Woman Sues Former Employer Over Lost Facebook Friends and Defamation
Stick and stones may indeed break bones. But causing someone to lose Facebook friends? Well, that'll land you a lawsuit.A Chicago-based woman is suing her former lover and employer for defamation, after rumors he spread about her being delusional and "post-partum" resulted in a loss of friends on Facebook. WBBM 780 reports that the plaintiff, Annmarie Swatos, asserts that she and Richard Gloor had an illicit affair while the two were working at a real estate agency in Chicago. When their cover was blown, they promptly put an end to both business and pleasure. According to Swatos, Gloor then proceeded to spread virulent rumors about her to former clients and potential employers, saying she was not only "post-partum" but that she was "stalking" him, as well. The complaint goes on to say that all these rumors caused a lot of her friends to "block [Swatos] from communicating with her through the social networking site Facebook." (*gasp!*)
But her loss of virtual friendships might not be as vain a complaint as it seems at first glance. Swatos' lawyers could couch her dwindling Facebook network as a loss in business, especially in such a contact-reliant industry as real estate. But if the principal damage is that she simply lost friends, it might be a hard case to sell.
The entire story, though, raises some compelling questions: How do you put a monetary value on virtual friendship, especially for someone in business? Couldn't anyone on your friends list be a potential client in most sectors? Or maybe today's value system has gone so viral that the loss of Facebook friendship or Twitter followers is all you need as proof of personal harm or damage. Who knows for sure, but it'll definitely be interesting to see how courts address these questions as our collective conception of "friendship" evolves. [From: Chicago Bar-Tender and WBBM 780]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Black Bart said 6:36PM on 11-05-2009
You are all morons! This is not about Facebook. If you took the time to read past the first sentence or the complaint, you would find that the name Facebook is an example of a social networking site. Let’s over sensationalize this now! The complaint clearly states that real estate broker has an affair with one of his real estate agent and then tries to cover himself and make the other woman look bad. The defriending or rejection on facebook is the confirmation that defamatory remarkes were made about Ms. Swatos. The real issue should be why is Richard Gloor cheating on his wife? Once a cheater, always a cheater!
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