Thinking about suing somebody over a tweet? Think again.

Horizon Realty Group in Chicago goes into my special category of The Dumbest PR Moves.  As this post from podcastingnews reports, they are suing a tenant over a pretty darn mild tweet complaining about the mold in an apartment. Suing for $50,000. The person tweeting had 22 followers. That means that maybe 4, maybe 5 people saw the complaint. Maybe all 22. Now how many people are seeing this complaint tweet. Thousands? Millions maybe?

But, that’s not the worst of it. Not sure who Jeffrey Michael is, something tells me he might be the same person who decided it was a good idea to sue the unhappy tenant. When asked about this he said (at least according to the report and it is so stupid I’m wanting to believe the report is wrong): “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.” By way of explanation he said the company has a good reputation it wants to preserve. Well, Mr. Michael, kiss that good reputation goodbye. You just succeeded in telling the world that one tenant thinks your apartment has mold. You also told the world what you do to poor, hapless tenants who are so bold as to express even a mild opinion about you. And finally you told the world what kind of character you have–one that will sue first and ask questions later.

Thinking that maybe this someone over there was smart enough to figure out that they stepped on themselves big tiime, I just went to their website, hoping against hope they would have a message on there that said, “Sorry folks, we screwed up. What were we thinking. Must have been out too late last night. Never should have sued, bad idea, not the way to treat people who complain, and the person we wronged will get a free apartment for six months.” Uhhnn, no. Nothing on their website except being a premiere something or other. Premiere jackasses, I think.

Advertisement