That was a statement made by Jeffrey Michael, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Michael’s family runs Horizon Group Management LLC, which has filed a $50,000 lawsuit against a former tenant who tweeted a complaint about mold in her apartment. The company is seeking damages for libel, as they claim Amanda Bonnen has “maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet.” Libel, in less than a 140 characters.
Amanda Bonnen’s Twitter account has been since been deactivated, but reporters say that when active she only had 17-20 followers, and the tweet was posted in an @Reply, which means potentially not all of her followers would have seen the tweet. Here’s the $50,000 tweet if you’re wondering: ”Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”
Talk about killing a fly with a bazooka. Just exactly what is Horizon Group Management trying to achieve with this lawsuit? Obviously the Horizon marketing staff is playing with a few cards short of a full deck. There’s nothing the firm could have done to ensure that tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people will now read Amanda Bonnen’s comment. Below is a list of news sites and bloggers bringing light to the situation. I believe it’s only time before fan groups spring up all across social media in support of Amanda Bonnen.
In effect, Horizon Group Management has just created it’s own national social media crisis. They are their own worst enemy- there’s no way a casual tweep like Ms. Bonnen could have caused more damage to their image than their own lawsuit against her. This is going down in my book as one of the biggest social media follies of all time. #epicfail.
After I first heard about the story from a friend on Facebook, I knew I would have to write this blog post and add my voice to the public uproar against Horizon. With a lawsuit like this, you’re not attacking just one Twitter user, you’re making an attack on all of us. Companies and their products and services get bashed all the time on Twitter, a public forum for ranting is part of the draw. Smart companies learn how to effectively deal with complaints in social media. Others file lawsuits. Hopefully this one gets thrown out. Even if Horizon wins the $50,000, the cost of this bad publicity is indeed far more expensive. I hope they burn.
Get More
Horizon Group Management LLC v. Amanda Bonnen (actual lawsuit in PDF)
Huffington Post: Amanda Bonnen, Apartment Renter, Sued For ‘Defamatory’ Twitter Post About Mold
Chicago Sun-Times: Tweet about apartment mold draws lawsuit
Chicago Tribune: Angry company drops a wee tweet into media echo chamber
Windy Citizen: Tenant sued by landlord for tweeting about apartment
CBS Chicago: Uptown Resident Sued For Twitter Post
Chicago Breaking News Center: Landlord claims libel over ‘mold’ Tweet
Chicago Bar-Tender: Will one Chicago woman’s Tweet cost her $50,000?
