Beware Of Blogs: Jury Awards $11.3 Million For Blog Defamation

Excerpt from USA Today

Jury awards $11.3M over defamatory Internet posts
By Laura Parker, USA TODAY

A Florida woman has been awarded $11.3 million in a defamation lawsuit
against a Louisiana woman who posted messages on the Internet accusing her
of being a "crook," a "con artist" and a "fraud."

Legal analysts say the Sept. 19 award by a jury in Broward County, Fla. —
first reported Friday by the Daily Business Review — represents the largest
such judgment over postings on an Internet blog or message board. Lyrissa
Lidsky, a University of Florida law professor who specializes in
free-speech issues, calls the award "astonishing."