Original Blog Entry: Renter hit with $50,000 suit over Twitter comments

truesee — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:13:45 GMT

Chicago tenant's Twitter slam draws suit

Apartment manager says it has to protect its reputation

July 28, 2009

LISA DONOVAN

Cook County Reporter

It was a not-so-sweet Tweet about a Chicago apartment.

In response, Horizon Group Management LLC filed a libel lawsuit Monday against Amanda Bonnen, a former tenant of a North Side apartment building it manages.

The real estate management firm which is seeking $50,000 in damages says that one of Bonnen's Twitter posts maliciously and wrongfully slammed her building at 4242 N. Sheridan and the management company.

The May 12 Tweet from abonnen read in part: Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it s okay.

The suit and Twitter account identifies abonnen as Amanda Bonnen of Chicago.

Jeffrey Michael, whose family has run Horizon for more than 25 years, said: The statements are obviously false, and it's our intention to prove that.

Michael said that while Bonnen moved out recently, the company never had a conversation about the post and never asked her to take it down.

We're a 'sue first, ask questions later' kind of an organization, Michael said, noting that the company manages 1,500 apartments in Chicago and saying it has a good reputation that it wants to preserve.

Bonnen couldn't be reached for comment.

Horizon Group Management has filed a lawsuit against Amanda Bonnen for publishing a false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter. Bonnen was living at an apartment managed by Horizon Group Management at 4242 N. Sheridan Rd.

LINK TO LAWSUIT:

http://media.suntimes.com/images/cds/pdf/twitterlawsuit.pdf

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