Courtney Love prevails in landmark Twitter libel case

Rocker Courtney Love will not be held liable for a tweet in which she was alleged to have libeled her former lawyer. The Hollywood Reporter writes:

The case is believed to be the first trial in a U.S. courtroom involving allegations of defamation on Twitter. Holmes was hired by Love to handle a fraud case against those managing the estate of Kurt Cobain, but in 2009, the relationship between the colorful rock star and her ex-attorney went south, and Love composed a tweet that read in part, “I was f***ing devestated [sic] when Rhonda J. Holmes esq. of san diego was bought off.”

Holmes sued, claiming the tweet had hurt her reputation.

#BREAKING: Courtney Love found not guilty in Twitter defamation trial. via @NBCLA #LiveThroughThis

— Andrew Blankstein (@anblanx) January 25, 2014

"I am really happy to have had good counsel for the first time in 24 years." — @Courtney Love on her court victory http://t.co/ZEvBOjmEof

— SPIN (@SPIN) January 25, 2014

Love testified that she had intended to send a direct message to Holmes and quickly deleted the tweet when she realized it was public. Also, “social media experts who took the witness stand … said there was no evidence that Love’s ‘bought off’ tweet had ever been retweeted.”