The 95-page lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, details the messages sent over many months. Plaintiffs include CEO Tom Litz, CFO Carl Alberto, the chairman of the board, the administrative director of facilities management services, the assistant vice president for patient care services and two administrative assistants.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants began their campaign in July 2009, hacking into the hospital’s internal e-mail system in July 2009 and sending a message to all hospital employees with a link to a YouTube video likening Mr. Litz to Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein. Altogether, at least seven YouTube videos were posted last year, falsely reporting random firings and malicious treatment of employees.
In October 2009, an employee’s e-mail account was used to send a vulgar message to all employees alleging sexual interactions between various hospital executives. In addition, blog entries and comments posted on outside websites criticized the hospital’s standard of care, said staff were engaging in criminal activity and frequently attacked the character of the plaintiffs.
The success of Internet defamation lawsuits is “not so likely,” said Cornell University Law School Professor Kevin Clermont. While the lawsuit could pressure Internet service providers to reveal the posters’ names, anonymous Internet users are protected in many cases, he said.
Read the Express-Times report on Warren Hospital.
