An $11 Million Mistake Print
Wednesday, October 06 2010

Sarah Jones, a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader and school teacher by day, filed a complaint late last year regarding an article published on TheDirty.com that included a quote from a commenter who alleged that Jones had slept with all the members of the Bengals team and had sexually transmitted diseases.  Jones, claiming that her school and some of her students read the comment, sued California-based Dirty World Entertainment Recordings LLC, which owns TheDirt.com for defamation, libel and invasion of privacy.
 
When the company failed to respond, the judge ordered Dirty World Entertainment Recordings to pay $11 million in a default judgment.  The award to Jones, however, was short-lived.
 
According to news reports, it turns out Jones's attorney sued the wrong company.  Instead of suing Hooman “Nik Ritchie” Karamian and TheDirty.com, the lawsuit instead targeted TheDirt.com and Dirty World Entertainment Recordings.  A simple, yet costly mistake.
 
Jones's lawyer Eric Deters recently filed an amended complaint. TheDirty.com has since taken down the original post. Jones and Deters hope to learn the name of the individual who sent the photo and information.  “You don’t get to hide behind fake names for slander and libel,” said Deter. 
 
—Source:  Forbes.com