FUSE TV - Jury Rules Courtney Love Tweet Not Defamatory

As per usual, 2013 was full of ups and downs for Courtney Love. Ups: working on a new solo LP, fashion line and autobiography. Downs: hawking e-cigs and a big defamation lawsuit.

Luckily for the polarizing musician, 2014 is off to a good start as yesterday a jury ruled in her favor in regards to a 2010 tweet in which she claimed her former attorney, Rhonda J Holmes, was "bought off."

According to Billboard, Holmes was originally hired by Love to help with a fraud case the "Doll Parts" singer was bringing against the estate of her late husband, Kurt Cobain.

The two ended their professional relationship—Holmes claims she was fired—and Courtney took to Twitter (natch) to express her feelings on the situation. She wrote:

"I was f-cking devestated [sic] when Rhonda J Holmes esq. of san diego was bought off"

Holmes then launched a defamation suit against Love, claiming that the tweet had caused substantial damage.

Love claimed in trial that the tweet was meant to be a private message and was taken down shortly after going public.

After eight days of back and forth, the jury ultimately decided that while Love had made a false statement that could damage her former attorney, she did not know for a fact at the time that it wasn't true.

This case is an interesting one as it reflects the changing face of the law as it relates to social media; it's being called the first "Twibel" case as it's the first major lawsuit to try to apply libel law to a tweet.

Now that her big trial is over, hopefully C Love can really concentrate on finding that ethereal unicorn that keeps slipping through her hands—a female bassist—and finally release that new LP.