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Published Friday, December 29, 2000
Online libel award serves as a warning to
'anonymous' Web posters
Carl S. Kaplan / New York Times
Earlier this month in Richmond, Va., U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams approved a
jury's award of $675,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to Dr. Sam Graham Jr.,
a urologist in private practice in Virginia and former head of the department of urology at
Emory University School of Medicine.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Graham was the subject of statements
published on a Yahoo message board accusing him of accepting illegal kickbacks while at
Emory and of leaving the school under a cloud. The statements were written by an
individual who went by the handle "fbiinformant" and who later was discovered to be Dr.
Jonathan Oppenheimer, a pathologist based in Nashville.
After a two day trial, a jury found on Oct. 25 that by publishing the statements,
Oppenheimer and a company that he operates were guilty of defamation and intentional
infliction of emotional distress. The jury concluded that statements written by
Oppenheimer were false and harmful to Graham's reputation and that Oppenheimer acted
negligently and recklessly in publishing them.
Oppenheimer, a non lawyer who represented himself at trial, said he plans to appeal the
judgment. He acknowledged that the factual statements he made are false, but said he
believed they were true when he wrote them. "It's going to ruin me" if the award is not
overturned, he said.
Lawyers say the case might represent the first time that a U.S. jury imposed a substantial
libel award against a defendant who published an anonymous Internet message. It also
serves as an important reminder that the rules of libel apply online much as they do in the
world of print.
"What this case demonstrates is that people can be held accountable for what they post
on the Net even though they posted anonymously," said Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, a
professor at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law and an expert on defamation
in cyberspace.
"People need to understand that if they make an allegation of fact about someone online
that is damaging to that person's reputation, they better make sure that statement is true;
otherwise they can be held liable for libel," she added.
Online libel award serves as a warning to
'anonymous' Web posters
Carl S. Kaplan / New York Times
Earlier this month in Richmond, Va., U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams approved a
jury's award of $675,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to Dr. Sam Graham Jr.,
a urologist in private practice in Virginia and former head of the department of urology at
Emory University School of Medicine.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Graham was the subject of statements
published on a Yahoo message board accusing him of accepting illegal kickbacks while at
Emory and of leaving the school under a cloud. The statements were written by an
individual who went by the handle "fbiinformant" and who later was discovered to be Dr.
Jonathan Oppenheimer, a pathologist based in Nashville.
After a two day trial, a jury found on Oct. 25 that by publishing the statements,
Oppenheimer and a company that he operates were guilty of defamation and intentional
infliction of emotional distress. The jury concluded that statements written by
Oppenheimer were false and harmful to Graham's reputation and that Oppenheimer acted
negligently and recklessly in publishing them.
Oppenheimer, a non lawyer who represented himself at trial, said he plans to appeal the
judgment. He acknowledged that the factual statements he made are false, but said he
believed they were true when he wrote them. "It's going to ruin me" if the award is not
overturned, he said.
Lawyers say the case might represent the first time that a U.S. jury imposed a substantial
libel award against a defendant who published an anonymous Internet message. It also
serves as an important reminder that the rules of libel apply online much as they do in the
world of print.
"What this case demonstrates is that people can be held accountable for what they post
on the Net even though they posted anonymously," said Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, a
professor at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law and an expert on defamation
in cyberspace.
"People need to understand that if they make an allegation of fact about someone online
that is damaging to that person's reputation, they better make sure that statement is true;
otherwise they can be held liable for libel," she added.
