Start a flamewar, get sued

[andrewducker]

A man just won £10,000 for defamatory remarks made against him.  Nothing unusual, except that this was on a bulletin board...  First case in the UK.

Mr Smith, a chartered surveyor, said Ms Williams' initially "innocent enough" views hardened after they expressed vastly different opinions over the Iraq war. Together with another chatroom user, who settled for £12,500 out of court with Mr Smith, they began a campaign of words against him and his family.

"That is when it started getting out of control. I was called a lard brain and a sex offender and my wife was called a prostitute," Mr Smith said.

Believing he had been libelled, Mr Smith and his solicitors obtained a court order to force the telecommunications company NTL to hand over Ms Williams' personal details. When she failed to provide a defence, they obtained a summary judgment.The judge said Ms Williams must not repeat the defamatory remarks, or in any way suggest Mr Smith is a sexual offender, a sexual deviant, a Nazi or a racist or having any such tendencies.

More here.

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

A woman just won £10,000
From your quote, it looks like the man got the money from the woman.

[andrewducker]

Cheers - fixed.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

All it needs now is s/against her/against him/

[andrewducker]

Is my utter mindnumbing tiredness showing?

I'd pay you for the editing job, but sadly I'm skint :->

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I'm just being picky for the hell of it, don't worry. You have a very good LJ, by the way :)

[andrewducker]

Thanks for the compliment. I feel like I'm not devoting enough time to it - I have a backlog of about 15 things I want to write, once I stop being tired, finish decorating the flat and generally do everything I have to do in the world.

Oh, and watch Season 5, episode 1 of The West Wing, which is where I'm off to now...

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Sl;eep!
I'm knackered too.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

It's not saying anything new - surprised it even got a headline - but thanks for the tip!

[andrewducker]

Is it not the first defamation case against a person in the UK based entirely on internet postings?

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Godfrey v Demon only involved Internet postings. In it the ISP got sued, not the origional poster, but it's (legally) obvious that if you can manage to sue the ISP, you could have sued the actual poster if you'd known who they were.. the ISP liability is the tougher part to establish.

[andrewducker]

Still, first time someone's said "You're a child-molesting hitler-loving donkey-sucker" on the internet and then been sued for it. Bit of a milestone.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Hey I missed the donkey sucking!

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

*ew*

*fear*

[azalemeth.livejournal.com]

Fun fun fun fun fun....