Highlights from the Courtney Love Twibel Trial
I have a personal connection to this trial, but until the verdict is rendered, I’m not going to make any comments. But I can link to this summary of what was said. This is from The Hollywood Reporter.
On Thursday, a trial against Courtney Love neared its finishing stages as closing statements were delivered. The colorful rock star is being sued for defamation over an allegedly defamatory tweet concerning her former attorney,Rhonda Holmes, who was once hired to handle a fraud case against those managing the estate of Kurt Cobain, the late Nirvana frontman and Love’s husband. Holmes is suing Love over a 2010 tweet that read in part, “I was f—ing devestated [sic] when Rhonda J. Holmes esq. of san diego was bought off.”
The trial isn’t the first to address defamation on Twitter. But it’s the first one inside a U.S. courtroom involving a celebrity. And because of that, this so-called “twibel” proceeding is unique. Holmes, through her connection with Love, has been deemed a limited-purpose public figure, and as such, Holmes will need to demonstrate that Love acted with malice. That puts a famous Twitter user’s state of mind front and center.
