Jury awards $11.3 million in Florida Internet defamation case

[papau]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_INTERNET_DEFA...

Oct 11, 5:18 PM EDT

Jury awards $11.3 million in Florida Internet defamation case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- A jury has awarded $11.3 million in damages to the head of a children's services referral company, after she was called a "con artist" and "fraud" in Internet messages posted by a Louisiana woman.

The award on Sept. 19 for Sue Scheff of suburban Weston, founder of Parent's Universal Resource Experts Inc., is among the largest ever for a lawsuit claiming Internet defamation, according to legal analysts and attorneys involved in the case.

"Just because you don't like someone or what they do, it does not give you carte blanche to post false statements about a person on the Internet," Scheff said this week.

The $11.3 million judgment, which includes $5 million in punitive damages, was awarded Sept. 19 for Scheff in her 2003 lawsuit against Carey Bock, of Mandeville, La. Bock, who did not show up for the trial, had posted the negative messages on an Internet site used by parents with troubled children at boarding schools.<snip>

[sugapablo]

1. Man, that woman really IS a con artist....

whoops!

[jody]

2. How long before a DUer will be the focus of a law suit using subject case

as a precedent?

[sendero]

3. So what?

If it comes to holding people accountable for their statements it's the GOP who will be in trouble.

[jody]

4. Agree, that other site frequented by Repugs is especially vulnerable. n/a

[Vinca]

5. You can't get water out of a rock

and thanks to Dubya's prosperous economy, that's about all I've got.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. The folks at Free Republic

are the ones who should be most concerned.

[papau]

7. As long as person is a "public" person, there is no case - a DUer on DUer

would be actionable in most cases.

I suspect most Democrats do not have enough money for a long court battle that will easily approach a $100,000 in costs - so I do not expect a DUer to be hit with a judgement anytime soon.