The only thing worse than a buckeye, is two buckeyes. Of course, I mean the worthless, poisonous nut, not the citizenry of Ohio. Speaking of Ohio (not of worthless nuts), an Ohio man has filed suit against America Online for allegedly failing to protect him from a couple of chat room bullies.
Gillespie v. America Online may be one for the books. The case is being called “the first of its kind” and has the legal profession’s pointy ears perked up to see who will be the victor.
“Do the courts have jurisdiction over what people say in Internet chat rooms?” asks Tresa Baldas on Law.com.
The world will find out as plaintiff George Gillespie of Medina County, Ohio, pleads his case before the judge that one Mike Marlowe of Fayette, Alabama, and one Bob Chapentier of Salem, Oregon (both defendants in the case) caused him emotional distress in an AOL chat room and AOL just sat by and let it happen.
According to court documents, the chat room participants “acted in an outrageous manner, which they knew or should have known would cause serious emotional distress to the plaintiff … The Defendants’ conduct was so extreme and contemptible as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency.”-reports Baldas.
Marlowe claims Gillespie has also accused him of traveling from his home town in Alabama to Medina County (about 720 miles) to file a change of address form at the Post Office for Gillespie in order to disrupt his mail. Marlowe denies the claims. He does admit to teasing him, though.
“I’m so flabbergasted with this because this has been blown out of proportion … There were never any threats. We just made fun of the guy,” said Marlowe, a 33-year-old welder.
