Internet defamation is as easy to inflict as hitting the ‘submit’ key. I am an internet law attorney who sees on-line defamation of character every day. The consequences to the person defamed can be devastating on the one end or a nuisance on the other. There is no -on-line media as easy, fast and thoughtless to post to as Twitter.com, making defamation on Twitter a big problem for lawyers and clients alike. Recall Courtney Love recently had to pay $430,000 in libel damages for Twitter defamation settlement with a fashion designer who claimed Courtney defamed her on twitter.com for the tweets “asswipe nasty lying hosebag thief” and a “coke whore.”
No comes the latest claim of defamation on twitter. NBA referee Bill Spooner just filed a federal defamation and libel lawsuit (click link to see the Federal Court Complaint) against Minneapolis-based sportswriter Jon Krawczynski and the Associated Press alleging he was defamed on Twitter during a a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets. The alleged defamatory tweet by Krawczynski states: “Ref Bill Spooner told Rambis he’d “get it back” after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That’s NBA officiating folks.” Spooner says that the statement quoted in the tweet was a request made by the coach to ‘get it [the foul call] back,’ not promise by Spooner to do so.