http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1160039129767Jury Awards Woman $11.3M in Internet Defamation Suit
Daniel Ostrovsky
Daily Business Review
October 6, 2006
A Weston, Fla., woman who spoke out publicly against a Utah-based company affiliated with a controversial chain of boarding schools for troubled teens around the world has won an $11.3 million Internet defamation verdict.
On Sept. 19, Susan Scheff and her Weston-based company, Parents Universal Resource Experts Inc., won the jury verdict in Broward Circuit Court against Carey Bock, a woman whom Scheff helped in getting Bock's two sons out of a school in Costa Rica. The judgment included $5 million in punitive damages.
Scheff filed the suit in December 2003, alleging that Bock posted defamatory statements about her on an Internet bulletin board viewed by parents of troubled teens, according to court pleadings.
The verdict is the latest chapter in the increasing volume of litigation around the country over the content of Internet sites, blogs and online bulletin boards.
"This is a new area of law," said Scheff's attorney, David H. Pollack of Miami. "The problem with the Internet is people can post anything about you and it can destroy you."
Pollack said that his client previously offered to settle the case for $35,000.
Scheff, who bills herself as an educational consultant, "tried to do something to help other parents and she wound up sort of being the object of hateful and vindictive statements," Pollack said. Scheff and her company sometimes get paid for their referrals.
The message of the verdict "is you just can't go out there on these blogs and slander and defame people without having any facts to substantiate what you are stating," Scheff said.
Bock could not be reached for comment before deadline. Her former lawyer, Jan D. Atlas of Adorno & Yoss in Fort Lauderdale, did not return a call for comment before deadline.
According to the suit, Bock had sought the help of Scheff and her company to refer her to an educational consultant who could get her sons out of a school affiliated with the Utah-based World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools. Pollack said the consultant succeeded in doing so.
After getting the boys out, from June 2003 through December 2003 Bock accused Scheff and her company of being "crooks," "con artists" and "frauds" who "exploit[ed] families" and place[d ] children in "risky" and "possibly abusive" programs as well as of operating a "scam," and being "no different than [the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools]," according to Scheff's suit.
Pollack said that a witness at the trial testified that Bock turned against Scheff after Scheff refused to help her contact a minor who allegedly was sexually abused at one of the World Wide-affiliated schools. The witness said Bock wanted to contact the minor for a documentary about the schools.
Among other things, Scheff's company has provided information to parents of troubled teens about World Wide affiliated schools.
The suit originally named Ginger Warbis, the owner of the Internet bulletin board, as a defendant. She later was dropped as a defendant in the suit. Warbis' lawyer, Philip Elberg, of Medvin & Elberg of Newark, N.J., sharply criticized Scheff and other people who refer parents to programs for troubled teens.
"People in this industry have consistently used their money and their access to lawyers to silence critics of the industry and this may be one of those examples," Elberg said. "Sue Scheff is simply another person in the industry of people who make money from the plight of frightened parents."
Scheff had her own experience with World Wide, Pollack said. She had enrolled her daughter at one of the for-profit organization's affiliated schools in South Carolina. She later formed her company, which refers interested parents to schools for troubled teens.
World Wide sued Scheff for defamation in Salt Lake City. World Wide claimed that stories about its schools posted on Scheff's Web site were defamatory. But in 2004 a jury ruled in Scheff's favor.
According to Pollack, Bock was first represented in the Broward Circuit Court suit by Adorno & Yoss, but the law firm dropped out of the case. He said Bock then refused to participate in court proceedings and her pleadings were stricken by Broward Circuit Judge John T. Luzzo.
Bock was not present for the jury trial, which was held to determine damages only, Pollack said.
Poor conditions and physical abuse by the staff at several World Wide schools have been alleged in lawsuits and numerous media reports around the country.
According to the Internet site of the nonprofit International Survivors Action Committee, at least nine schools either directly affiliated with World Wide or personnel affiliated with World Wide have been closed following investigations by authorities.
Articles in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami New Times have publicized allegations of abuse at the Jamaica-based school Tranquility Bay, which is popular with parents in South Florida.
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