Sex Accusations Spawning Lawsuits

A lawyer who specializes in online defamation cases, Mark G. Clark, says he gets calls daily from people who say they’ve been defamed, but have no recourse with Twitter or Facebook, platforms that claim their neutrality doesn’t allow them to take sides in such matters. “Anyone can have their grievance heard, but anyone can be irresponsible and malicious,” says Clark. “Power to the people.” A case in point is a recent Facebook posting by Melanie Kohler, a Hawaiian surfing instructor who posted a description of her alleged rape by Hollywood producer Brett Ratner several years ago. Within hours she was contacted by Ratner’s lawyer. She took the post down, but is facing a lawsuit anyway. Since it was filed other women have come forward with similar claims about Ratner. Because the suit is drawing attention to accusations that might have gotten little publicity otherwise, it may backfire and set a precedent that others are reluctant to emulate, or it may be the whitecap on a wave of oncoming litigation.