Appeal says Juror sent ‘tweets’ during $12M case

I honestly could not be prouder of my home state for being the stage of this judicial nightmare.  A company is apparently appealing a ruling against them for $12.6 million dollars because a juror in the case was apparently getting his “twitter” on during the hearings.

It wouldn’t have been near as funny though if he had just been tweeting his buddies to say he was running late or something, but noooo, he went on to rant about the company who was being sued and their product, ha.  He also bragged about giving away $12 million dollars of someone else’s money, wow!  This probably isn’t over anytime soon, and I can bet you anything this will come up at our next Refresh meetup!

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A building materials company and its owner have appealed a $12.6 million verdict against them, alleging that a juror was posting related messages on Twitter.com while hearing the case.

The motion filed Thursday seeking a new trial claims the juror sent eight messages — or “tweets” — to the micro-blogging Web site via his cellular phone. One read in part: “oh and nobody buy Stoam. Its bad mojo and they’ll probably cease to Exist, now that their wallet is 12m lighter.”

Another describing what “Juror Jonathan” did today, read: “I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money.”

The motion filed by the lawyer for Russell Wright and his company, Stoam Holdings, alleges the juror researched the case and communicated with others outside the jury. Wright did not appear in court when the case was heard in Washington County in late February.

The jury awarded the money to Mark Deihl and William Nystrom, who invested in Wright’s company. The company claimed its building material, Stoam, combines the insulation qualities of foam with the strength of steel.

“It was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme,” said Deihl’s attorney, Greg Brown. “(Bernie) Madoff is a very comparable case.”

A new message posted Friday by a Johnathan Powell of Fayetteville read: “Well, I’m off to see a judge. Hope they don’t lock me under the jail, and forget about me for four days.”

Powell did not respond to messages for comment. A clerk for the judge said no hearings were scheduled over the matter Friday.

Appeal says juror sent ‘tweets’ during $12.6M case

Update: This story just keeps getting better each time I read it, here’s a link to some more info on Lance Turner’s blog.  What a great story to wrap up the week with!