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: Legal Blog Watch

Twitter Defamation Lawsuit: NBA Referee Edition

By Bruce Carton

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It worked for the designer who sued Courtney Love to the tune of a $430,000 settlement, and now we'll see if an NBA referee can similarly recover for "defamation by Twitter." The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reports that NBA ref Bill Spooner has filed a defamation suit in federal court in Minneapolis against Associated Press writer (and Timberwolves reporter) Jon Krawczynski following a Krawczynski tweet back in January. Spooner alleges that during a Jan. 24 game between the T'wolves and the Houston Rockets, he called a foul on a Minnesota player that Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis vehemently disagreed with. Spooner allegedly promised to review the call at the half, but Rambis, as the Journal puts it, "asked him how he would get the points back." According to Spooner, he did not respond to this question but according to the Krawczynski tweet in question, Spooner "told Rambis he'd 'get it back' after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That's NBA officiating folks." Spooner alleges that the tweet is defamatory and accuses him of game-fixing. He has demanded that the tweet be unpublished and retracted and seeks "more than $75,000" in damages. According to the Business...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).