What Are You Doing Legally on Twitter?

Attorneys William Coats and Jennifer Gossain wrote an article called “What Are You Doing Legally on Twitter?” that all Twitter-ers might want to read.   Although Twitter is relatively new to the web, there have been lawsuits filed based on statements made in tweets.  Despite being limited to 140 characters, a single tweet can violate some-body’s right of publicity or defame a person or entity.

Amanda Bonnen . . .  had merely 20 followers.  But the small number of followers did not prevent this ordinary Chicago woman from being sued for $50,000 for her tweet.  This past May, Bonnen tweeted, “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you?  Horizon realty thinks it’s OK.”  Horizon Management Group took offense to Bonnen’s tweet and filed suit against her in Cook County, Ill., on July 20, 2009. Horizon alleged that Bonnen’s public tweet is libel per se and asked for damages in the amount of $50,000.  Bonnen has since closed her Twitter account.