It’s amazing what you can do when the defendant doesn’t show up at trial. With no opposition at trial, the plaintiff in an Internet defamation case convinced a South Florida jury to award her a record $11.3 million in damages.
Sue Scheff of Weston, Fla., sued Carey Bock of Mandeville, La., in December 2003 over the messages posted calling her a crook, a con artist and a fraud, USA Today reported Wednesday. The dispute was centered on a referral business Scheff runs that helps parents of troubled children find appropriate schools, the newspaper said. After their transaction involving Bock’s two sons, Bock began posting the messages, the jury was told.
Bock was unable to pay an attorney and did not attend the Broward County, Fla., trial or enter a defense, and Scheff said she doubted she’d see any money at all.
Mr. Morris,
I'm pretty sure that Bock has a gag order/agreement to prevent her from saying anything online about Scheff again in the future. How does this prevent Scheff, or anyone else, from causing havok on Miss Bock's life by still slanderizing Scheff online? Where does the burden of proof lie to determine if it's really Bock or not? These cases don't make sense to me on the Internet. It's hard to figure out who really posted what was said. Not like in the days past, where if you said something in the media, it could verifiably be you. Don't you agree that there needs to be legislation passed to remedy or mitigate these kinds of scenarios??