UPDATED: Rounding up the buzz... Will one Chicago woman's Tweet cost her $50,000?

Personally, I agree with your 3rd point. This could have been an opportunity for the management company to turn the situation around and generate positive tweets from the tenant. Instead they decided to generate a LOT of bad PR for themselves. I know that any press is considered "good press" but I have to say in this case, I think it will only discourage people from renting from them if this is how they react to complaints, but that's probably obvious.

I thought nothing of her tweet--management companies typically have hundreds, if not thousands, of units to deal with, and it can be a huge challenge catching up with all the maintenance requests. The fact that a tenant is griping--very mildly, I might add--about the upkeep of her particular unit is nothing new. After reading that complaint, I think no less of Horizon than I did before. However, the fact that they'd rather litigate than mitigate shows that they're wholly unconcerned about the happiness and health of their tenants, and find it a better use of their time and resources to punish tenants than to address their issues. This suit, and not the tweet, has soiled my impression of the company.

A lot more than 20 people are going to read that Tweet now...

what she said in her tweet would not dissuade me from looking at an apartment leased by horizon, but the way they are handling this certainly does.

So, why not sue over the negative review (which is way more wordy, btw) of Horizon Realty that is currently up on Yelp?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/horizon-realty-group-chicago-3

This really is a case where the company – Horizon, just doesn’t get it. We actually consult with clients that are in this industry of multi-housing management, and I present and train on the subject of Social media tools and managing your online reputation.

The fact that Horizon chose to escalate this to legal ensures that it will warrant the unwanted attention they sought to avoid, and their chances of winning in court are slim. I’m not an attorney, but I believe you have to prove malice of intent in defamation cases, which you cannot infer from one tweet on Twitter. The defendant also should be protected by first amendment rights as well.

Back to the strategy Horizon should have followed. Horizon should be actively engaging the audience on the same social media platform. They would have equal opportunity there to engage the complaint and attempt to resolve any issues that may have developed. It would show the same online audience that supposedly viewed the tweet that Horizon did care about the conditions of their property and what steps they have taken to ensure that their properties are well maintained, or that there had never been a complaint of mold in that location.

Instead they went the heavy-handed route and brought this lawsuit. The perception immediately goes against Horizon in public opinion. Even if they were in the “right”, they are now perceived as a bullying company that doesn’t care about its resident as much as it cares about money. Escalation of an online reputation issue to litigation should always be held as a last resort option. If they had engaged a PR firm with social media skills and crises communication experience, they would not be facing the negative PR fiasco that this lawsuit will reap for them. You would think that companies would learn quickly after what happened to Domino’s Pizza.

Christopher Lower
Sterling Cross Communications
Traditional Storytelling Integrating Today’s Technology
www.sterlingcrossgroup.com

BTW, may want to correct "140 words" to "140 characters" in second to last paragraph. (Imagine the hissy fit they might have thrown if it *had* been words rather than mere characters.) (Though as one commenter notes, a far more verbose Yelp review seems to have gone unnoticed.) Good grief, not only did the woman have only 20 followers at the time of her mild gripe (it seems she's since deleted the account), but also the tweet was in the form of an @- reply, so only those following her AND the person she was replying to were likely to have seen it the first time around. Hilariously clueless, most dumbshit PR move ever.

Great point by Sgt. Tibs, above. Some companies continue to approach new media the same way they approached old media. But, it's a different world now, forever changed. Companies that approach social media as an opportunity rather than a problem are the ones most successful - it's highly evident through any quick stroll across Twitter, etc. Horizon had a quick opportunity to listen and respond. Instead, a relatively innocent tweet gets viral attention quickly, giving Horizon nothing but a bully's black eye.

My suspicion is, this is a frivolous lawsuit that was engineered to get blog coverage, Twitter mentions, then media coverage. Being the first at ANYTHING is pretty much newsworthy...

I always assumed the threat of lawsuits like this is exactly why Twitter doesn't change its "What are you doing?" premise, even though very few tweets actually answer that question. On the surface, Twitter solicits no information other than a report on people's activities. Statements of opinion are neither invited nor encouraged. With that legal safety net, it seems like Twitter can't really be held responsible for the content of Tweets that divert from the so-called intended purpose of the site.

I'm not a lawyer, by the way. This comment should not be interpreted as legal advice, as is evidenced by the poorly worded legal disclaimer.

To vmarinelli/Marian Wang--not even the 20 following Ms. Bonnen may have seen that tweet--Twitter only shows the @ responses to the folks following both the tweeter and the @ recipient...unless you look up the Tweeter's profile.
This is scary, however... It will make some of us think twice before griping about anyone. Goodbye, Motrin Moms.

I am a professional journalist. I'd like to clarify some things regarding libel/slander.

1. The first standard that must be met is publication: Was the alleged libel "published" somewhere? This can be in a magazine that reaches thousands, on a TV news broadcast that reaches millions, or an underground 'zine read by 10 people. The courts will have to decide whether Twitter counts as a "publication," but I don't see why they wouldn't.

2. It's up to the plaintiff to show how this alleged libel damaged its business. In my opinion, that fact that many, many more people saw the "moldy apartment" Twitter after the suit was filed than ever would have seen it otherwise has to hurt the apartment company's case.

3. On that same note, the apartment company must prove that the statement is false. If the woman is telling the truth and the apartment company cannot prove that her place is, indeed, a mold-free paradise, this will be a tough case to win. Hopefully, she has a paper-trail showing that she has complained about it in the past.

4. Anyone can sue for libel or slander. Even a critic who writes a negative review could be sued, but since the courts have ruled again and again that opinion is protected, it's usually a waste of time.

The real sad thing here is that there is no shortage of bottom feeding, blood sucking attorneys to take on such a frivolous suit to begin with. What a pathetic JOKE!

RT
www.anon-web-tools.tk

Thanks for breaking this story (and I'm sorry that most have not linked back to you).

I did some more digging around: bad reviews on Yelp, too. No suits there, one assumes, since the reviews have not been pulled. (And yes, I found these before seeing the above comment!)

I agree, this is a bad move on their part. But there is always more to the story: http://www.horizonrealtygroup.com/UserFiles/file/PressRelease.pdf

Horizon speaks! in a press release, that is a PDF and not text. More here

I think Thomas Nord is incorrect. Publication in this situation just means to communicate it to one or more persons. So If you are having a conversation with someone, no ones else needs to hear except the person you are talking to and it could be grounds for a slander suit.

I love this story.

I love that every single person is a legal expert. Every single person is a social media expert. Every single person is a expert in the field of toxic mold. But, what I love best is that every single person is an expert in the field of criticism.

How many of you read the legal filings? How many of you took the time to investigate the history between the tenant and the landlord or property manager?

You read an article about a girl that is getting sued for defamation over a tweet she posted about her property management company. One article about an 140 character tweet. All of sudden your John J. Righteous-Hypocrite with your JD and MA in PR and a BS in Fungi.

You say this is an epic PR fail. You say that the realty company doesn't understand Twitter on so many levels. You compare a Yelp posting to a Twitter comment.

How many levels of Twitter is there to understand? I have nearly 1,000 followers and 3,000 tweets and the only level I know of is putting my password and user name in and responding to tweets, tweeting, and thats about it. It's not some multivariable function with all sorts of derivatives and differentials. It's just a website.

Comparing the Yelp posting to the tweet is like comparing apples to string cheese. The Yelp posting was a review of what one person faced. A person who probably should've investigated his neighborhood before he moved in. The tweet is putting words in a company's mouth. It would've been one thing if she said that she had mold in her apartment, what she did was say that the company doesn't care that she had mold in her apartment.

Finally, how is this a PR fail? Because somebody is getting sued? Is Twitter like the 50 yard line, where if someone tweets something about you or your company, taking action is off limits? Say she walked around her neighborhood passing flyers saying the realty company thinks its okay if she had mold. Or better yet, wonder if she walked around your area and told everyone you're a sex offender. You would sue her right? But if she posted on Twitter that you're a sex offender and obviously you're not, is she off limits for a law suit?

We as a society are so quick to jump to gun. So quick to point to finger. We need to take a step back and truly understand all the circumstances before we jump head first.

big c little b,
I agree with what you are saying....especially when it comes to not knowing the whole story before judgment is passed. Its not like they just saw this tweet and decided to sue...there was a lot of history nobody knew about, and should have known before coming to conclusions....further proof that you cant take stuff for face value...there is always more going on.

She never said or claimed she had mold in her apartment, just that a company by the name of Horizon Realty ( not Horizon Group Management, who is suing her)doesn't feel that sleeping in a moldy apartment will cause harm.

Good luck proving what the hell she was referring too, who she was referring too, and the harm she felt Horizon Realty was causing.

We don't even know if she was claiming harm herself or just some off the wall statement that some Realty company doesn't believe sleeping in mold is harmful. Maybe they don't think it is harmful, cigarette companies don't think their products are harmful. We have no idea the context, perhaps she was ignorantly passing on advice.

Tenants were slamming Horizon years ago:

http://yochicago.com/today/vignettes/sue-first-ask-questions-later_9082/

Like you said in the post...it was only a matter of time. First off, I am a lawyer, so I'd like to point out a few things about defamation that people mentioned previously (and no, I haven't read the complaint yet).

On publication: publication for defamation suits just requires that some third party see or hear the defamatory language. This defamatory language can either be intentionally released or negligently in order to satisfy the publication requirement. She could have been sued for defamation by only having one follower, or 1 million followers. Also, the fact that more people have seen or heard about the apartment than when she had just tweeted about it is irrelevant.

Since this is a matter of public concern, depending on how Horizon is classified, they'll either need to show that the woman acted with Actual Malice (stating intentional falsities or a reckless disregard for the truth) or a negligence standard. I'm guessing that the negligence standard would apply here because Horizon seems more like a private company involved in a matter that concerns the public; they aren't a public figure, so to speak.

They also must prove the statement is false. Based on her statement, that would require them to prove that they don't like sleeping in moldy apartments, namely that they try and make sure that they don't have moldy apartments...a matter that will be up to the courts.

Finally, Horizon doesn't have to prove damages since its libel. Damages have to be proven in slander cases, unless its slander per se.

Oh, and as far as a 1st amendment defense -- it is a defense to defamation, but only in instances of humor; where the defendant can prove that statements were made in a joking manner.

Finally, Finally. Rule #1 of Defamation -- people who re-publicize defamatory statements have the same amount of liability as the original defamer. Not that you should expect a lawsuit, but in theory, you could get one.

While there are other details to this particular case, it does not change that Horizon is a crappy company. I rented from them about 3 years ago and actually had a very similar experience - we had water leaking in 2 places in our living room and in my bedroom and it took them over a month to fix the roof. And, this was after I first reported a water leak 3 months earlier that they did nothing about.

where's freedom of tweet?

One of the problems with our society is that everyone (companies included) is "sue" happy! What ever happened to, "Sticks and stones can break my bones..."? Nevermind, I know what happened! People began to quantify intangible matters that opened the door to numerous law suits and hefty payouts! It's no wonder our justice system needs an enema!

One clarification regarding libel and damages. Horizon doesn't have to prove damages if it proves libel per se, and, notwithstanding that it's attorneys misspelled libel per se in the complaint, it is claiming libel per se. Libel per quod claims still have to establish damages. That being said, while libel per se establishes presumption of damages, it is silent as to damage amounts. It is not uncommon, when unaccompanied by proof of damages, for libel per se judgment awards to be nominal. I have seen judgments in favor of plaintiff for libel per se that were as low as 1 dollar.

Thanks to Forbes Avenue! I liked your comment the most!

1. Everyone tweet Horizon Realty sucks
2. Wait a few days
3. Start a class-action discrimination lawsuit saying they're singling out Amanda Bonnen because she's (insert race/class/religion/gender etc here) because they weren't able to sue everyone who re-tweeted it
4. ???
5. Profit.

It doesn't matter what Horizon proves legally or whatever the law says.

Here's the law where one doesn't have to be an expert in anything except common sense..

They just cut their own throat big time. Who on earth will want to be their tenant now? If that's what they do to someone over a tweet, jeesh, forget it.

They haven't got a leg to stand on.

Well Horizon, great PR...NOT.

Be good to see what happens and I wonder if this will affect twitter, where they have some sort of a way that only certain people can see your tweet?

She could have filed a bad report or complaint on rent.com or ripoffreport.com that is a consumers right. What makes it any different to Tweet it to 20 followers who already know her apartment is a shithole? Maybe that sleazy company should spend it's money on the upkeep of those units instead of suing poverty striken people who have to live in moldy apartments! This is a total #FAIL for that apartment complex; frivolous and ruining the Twitter community's former place of FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Fuck that company, don't sue me!!

That asinine case won't hold up in court. Send an inspector out there, I fucking dare you.

Help stop companies like Horizon Realty from filing frivolous lawsuits and wasting taxpayer money. Please follow us on Twitter at OutragedPublic, and then visit http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/OutragedPubl... to sign a petition telling companies like Horizon that you find this behavior unacceptable. Our simple website is located at http://outragedpublic.weebly.com/. We will be posting updates on our petition progress there, and we have a forum where you can discuss your thoughts on this issue. Together we can make a statement. Thank you for your support.

Help stop companies like Horizon Realty from filing frivolous lawsuits and wasting taxpayer money. Please follow us on Twitter at OutragedPublic, and then visit http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/OutragedPubl... to sign a petition telling companies like Horizon that you find this behavior unacceptable. Our simple website is located at http://outragedpublic.weebly.com/. We will be posting updates on our petition progress there, and we have a forum where you can discuss your thoughts on this issue. Together we can make a statement. Thank you for your support.

Well I read through all the comments and noticed one thing. Did anyone else hear that this started through a "discovery process" because she is suing them? This is tit-for-tat and bad pr.

That is pathetic that property management companies go so far with their own crazy beliefs. I encourage for everyone to check out this website.

http://www.rankmypropertymanagement.com

At the website you are able to rate,review, and discuss property managers or landlords. Create awareness by joining the forum or just write your review.

Great I use tripadvisor and I sometimes leave negative comments about hotels if warranted, I better start saving up