By Polly Mosendz | Bloomberg
Courtney Love spent almost six years in litigation accused of libeling her former attorney in a Twitter post that was visible for less than 10 minutes. She paid a reported $780,000 in settlements as a result of two other defamation suits, both stemming from Twitter missives Love wrote about designer Dawn Simorangkir. “Twitter should ban my mother,” her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, once said.
Love, an actress and musician, and the widow of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, inherited the band’s publishing rights. She can afford to take on defamation lawsuits. You probably can’t, and given how much of our lives is spent venting on social media, especially now in the age of Trump, the more vociferous among us might want to consider libel insurance.
A longtime necessity for journalists, such policies are now being sold to the average American, bundled with more traditional policies covering homes and cars. For an extra couple bucks a month, you can buy yourself a little peace of mind, knowing someone else will foot the bill if you’re hit with a defamation lawsuit for what you say online.
“The attorneys’ fees involved in successfully defending a defamation action – even defending against a frivolous action – can be significant. They might easily exceed the value of most automobiles. Generally, these attorneys’ fees are not recoverable. For many people, that means that even if they win, they lose. Some insurance, especially homeowners insurance or umbrella policies, offers protection against defamation claims. Anyone who posts online about other people or businesses, whether it is on Facebook or Yelp or anywhere else, is well advised to obtain defamation insurance. It is cheaper to pay an insurance company $400 per year than it is to pay a lawyer $400 per hour.”
