Chicago woman sued over defamatory Tweet

A Chicago woman is being sued by her landlord for a Tweet she published on Twitter in May that claimed her apartment had mold.

The suit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court alleges that Amanda Bonnen published a false and defamatory tweet when shoe wrote that “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.” Horizon Group Management is the management company for her apartment.

Local reports weren’t clear on whether Bonnen’s apartment did have mould or not (truth is a defense to defamation), but obviously Horizon doesn’t believe so, as they’re asking for in excess $50,000 for the under 140 characters Bonnen used on Twitter to make the statement.

Horizon Group Management further claimed in the suit that “it has been greatly injured in its reputation as a landlord in Chicago because of Bonnen’s Tweet.”

Bonnen’s account has been deleted, but a copy still exists in Google Cache. In case you’re wondering, Bonnen had 22 followers before she closed the account. I think someone needs to talk to Horizon about the Streisand effect pretty quickly, because that 22 people could end up being 22 million once news of their ridiculous suit spreads.