Ex-cheerleader Sarah Jones scores $338K in defamation case

[alp227]

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer

Former Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones won her defamation lawsuit against the gossip website TheDirty.com Thursday in federal court – but she was only awarded a total of $338,000.

A jury of eight women and two men took about 10 ½ hours over two days hour before delivering the unanimous verdict at the federal courthouse on Fifth Street.

Jones appeared to be fighting back tears and could be heard whispering towards the jury. The lead attorney for Jones, Eric Deters, was not at the courthouse when the verdict was announced, but he tweeted and posted on Facebook the following:

“Today. A wise jury. A fair judge. A brave woman. Changed America for the better. This is historic. I am honored to be part of it.”

Read more: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130711/news0103/307100085

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. 'only' $338k? Is that sarcasm, or do they say 'only' because it include lawyers' fees? (nt)

[Doctor_J]

2. it's"only" because that's what they pay a receiver per game

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. But for a teacher caught having an affair with a student, it's not bad

After all, it's not as if she had a great reputation to damage after that.

What a company that she used to work for, and which isn't invovled in the suit, pays someone else seems fairly irrelevant.

[hughee99]

4. True, but she didn't sue the Bengals.

She sued some clown running a website.

[Shrike47]

5. Maybe because the prayer was for so much more.

It does seem like a fair chunk of change.

Of course, his defense was 'it was a joke!' Sure, what could be funnier than saying she gave the team members sexually transmitted diseases?

[stevenleser]

6. A chilling assault on free speech. The poster should have been sued, not the website. nt

[SwissTony]

8. That struck me too. Even if a website owner tries to keep his site "clean",

a poster can post offensive material that will remain on view for hours - and someone will probably copy it.

[duffyduff]

7. She'll never see a dime of the money because she will lose on appeal. n/t

[closeupready]

10. This.

[tammywammy]

11. She never should have been allowed to bring this case to trial.

It's long standing case history, that you cannot sue the owner of a website for something someone else posts. She will definitely lose on appeal.

[Javaman]

9. "only awarded a total of $338,000"

yeah, life is tough.