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People saying mean things about you on the internet doesn’t entitle you to millions of dollars in damages. That’s the result of a recent California case where landlord attorney Dennis P. Block took “mean tweets” to a new level and sued a tenant advocacy group called BASTA over a parody Twitter account allegedly run by a contractor they’ve used.
Block claimed the account caused emotional distress, lowering his firm morale so much that a star litigator defected to get out from the mockery.
Immoral? Block gave an interview in 2007 calling it his “patriotic duty” to evict people from their homes. Whatever he thinks about his own job, that worldview fits pretty squarely into what a tenant rights group — and a lot of civilized society — would characterize as “immoral.” Seems an awful lot like a protected statement of opinion to me.
Incompetent? On the one hand, Block’s been quite successful throughout his career. On the other hand, he’s one of the small but hilarious clutch of attorneys caught citing fake caselaw, presumably through some ChatGPT screw up. Which at least opens you up to a little competency ribbing.
But even if these weren’t all perfectly accepted subjects for opinion commentary and parody… the account has roughly 150 followers! A guy comfortable telling a major newspaper that he thinks it’s a duty to kick people onto the street can’t start clutching his pearls because 150 people laugh at him. Gotta have tougher skin than that if he wants to posture as a hardnosed landlord lawyer who shrugs off sob stories like gnats.
More people read this random parody account because of this lawsuit than ever would’ve found it otherwise. This is just an epic Streisand-ing.
Tenant advocates prevail in libel lawsuit over mocking tweets [Daily Journal]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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