July 29, 2009

Tenant Sued for Tweeting about Moldy Apartment

An apartment management company is suing a Chicago woman for tweeting that her apartment contained mold.

According to Mai Ling, writing on the MSN Real Estate blog, tenant Amanda Bonnen’s tweet – “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay." – is being challenged in court by the Horizon Group Management, which said Bonnen’s post "maliciously and wrongfully" criticized her apartment.

The company is seeking $50,000 in damages in one of the first libel lawsuits involving the social networking site Twitter.

Writes Ling:
"Unfortunately for Horizon, the damage that Bonnen's tweet to her 20 followers would have caused the company is probably much less than the effect of this lawsuit. Now the company will forever be linked to a tenant's comment about her alleged moldy apartment, regardless of whether Horizon can prove the statement was false."

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