A US jury has sided with former Hole singer Courtney Love in what marks the first “Twibel” trial, in which libel law was used to address allegedly defamatory statements made over Twitter. The case pertains to a tweet Love sent out that suggested one of her lawyers was accepting bribes.
As News Corp reports, the verdict emerged after three hours of deliberation in a case lasting eight days. Love had originally posted the tweet, which she contended was meant to be a private message, back in 2010, writing that San Diego lawyer Rhonda Holmes had been “bought off.”
Love hired Ms Holmes to aid her in a fraud case against the estate of her late husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, before, Ms Holmes said, she was fired by Love. Ms Holmes alleged that the tweet and other statements made by Love had caused her reputation significant damage.
The jurors concluded that while Love’s tweet did include false information, the artist didn’t know it wasn’t true. Ms Holmes’ lawyer Mitchell Langberg said the verdict meant the panel concurred on the defamatory nature of the tweet, but that Love could not be held liable for it.
Ms Holmes was suing for $US8 million ($9.2 million) in damages to send a message that false and libelous statements made online had consequences. Mr Langberg said that while Ms Holmes was disappointed with the verdict, her most important asset, her reputation, had been upheld.
Love was not in court to witness the verdict, having left following closing arguments on Friday morning. She arrived just as the courthouse was closing and reportedly hugged her lawyers, John Lawrence and Matthew Bures, in the hallway after hearing the results of the case.
Love, who previously landed in trouble and agreed to pay US$430,000 to fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir over statements made on Twitter and MySpace, claimed she did not make any Twitter posts during the trial, saying, “I didn’t tweet out of respect for the case.”
