Hollywood actor James Wood, who starred in the films "Once Upon a Time in America," "Casino," and "Ghosts of the Mississippi," is suing an anonymous Twitter handle that went by Abe List for defamatory comments and invasion of privacy for an eye popping $10 million. Twitter has since put down Abe List.
According to the lawsuit that Woods filed at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the currently anonymous person behind the account called him a cocaine addict, among other things. It said that this was only part of a smear campaign that began as early as December 2014 meant "to discredit and damage Woods' reputation." With the hundreds of thousands of people able to view these comments, it is no wonder the actor is seeking damages.
The remarks by Abe List all happened in the comments section of Woods' official Twitter account. The most recent attack which prompted the lawsuit happened in July 15 when James tweeted about Caitlyn Jenner and Planned Parenthood. Abe List commented, "Cocaine addict James Wood still sniffing and spouting."
The justice that Woods is looking for is not impossible but it will admittedly be difficult. There are different procedures which vary from state to state when pursuing anonymous and malicious Internet users. "In California, you can't just ask the Internet service provider, or ISP, to turn over the user", according to Leila Knox, legal expert from First Amendment Coalition which is based in San Rafael. She adds, "You have to go straight after the individual."
Another legal expert, Mark Lemley, director of the law, science, and technology program of Stanford Law School, stated that the process must begin with a plaintiff complaint, then moves on to proving enough grounds for the lawsuit to go ahead, then to subpoena the ISP. The ISP is bound to by law to first let the user know of a request made for his or her identity. Should the ISP dispute the request, a motion to quash the subpoena will be filed.
There was a similar case in April 2012 which won in favor of couple Mark and Rhonda Lesher from Texas. Again, defamatory claims were made online. This time, thousands of comments were thrown at them and the couple was called "sexual deviants, molesters, and drug dealers." $14 million damages were awarded the couple.
