Amy O vs #TroyCrazy

Twitter

Amy H. O'Connor <amyhoconnor71@gmail.com>	Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 7:53 PM
To: Kevin McCashion <kmccashion@gmail.com>

Dear Kevin:

I see you got my message. Yes, I was hoping I’d see you downtown this weekend. In the spirit of Christmas and making Troy a better place, I thought I’d give you a quick primer on defamation law in New York. I lack your talent for encapsulating topics into 140-character chunks of snark, but I’ll try to keep it brief.

I'll be referencing your tweet about me this morning at 8:22a. But I think you know that already.

The Elements of Defamation:

1.  A false or defamatory statement (such as falsely accusing someone of adultery)

2.  Made with negligence* (such as having no evidence of truth)

3.  Published to a third party without authorization (such as everyone on Twitter)

4.  Resulting in injury/damages.**

*A “limited public figure” (such as me) would have to prove you acted with actual malice IF the defamatory tweet was related to her public activities (i.e. Take Back Troy, local politics, etc). Of course, adultery wouldn’t be related to anyone’s public activities, so the applicable degree of fault would drop down to negligence. That’s a much lower standard and easier to prove.

**New York has a few categories of defamatory statements that are deemed so offensive, the plaintiff need not prove injury/damages.  This is called “defamation per se”. One of the categories is accusing someone of a crime. Believe it or not, adultery is a crime in New York.  Another category is accusing someone of sexual immorality or being “unchaste”.  Obviously adultery qualifies there.

Of course, truth is always an absolute defense to a defamation claim. But that’s not a winner, Kevin. It will be tough to prove it, since it isn't true.

So, to recap, that tweet you wrote this morning accusing me of adultery, which was nearly identical to the one you wrote last week, is false, defamatory and legally actionable. I’d like you to remove both of them and, quite simply, knock it off. I find it curious that my private life is so interesting to you to begin with. I'm told I should find your twitter rants about me vaguely flattering, and I actually find many of them funny or even clever, but a direct accusation of infidelity in a public forum is over the line. Feel free to mock me on the public topics, but it’s time to cease and desist with the false accusations about my marriage and personal life. Focus on your girlfriend, who I did spot briefly this weekend. Please tell her I said hello.

Merry Christmas,

Amy O'Connor
(From Brunswick)