Daniel Lawsuit Settled
Peoria, Illinois
September 2, 2015
The City of Peoria has tentatively reached an out-of-court settlement, pending City Council approval, of the lawsuit brought against it by Jonathan Daniel arising out of a fake Twitter account he created portraying himself as the Mayor of the City of Peoria. Daniel was never charged with a crime, but search warrants were obtained for his residence after several Peoria County Court judges and the Peoria County State’s Attorney all determined there was probable cause to believe the Twitter account violated Illinois’ False Personation of a Public Official Statute. The particulars of the settlement are as follows:
- The City will pay Mr. Daniel and his attorneys a total of $125,000 in return for their agreement to dismiss the lawsuit. Most of that money will go to Mr. Daniel’s attorneys. The settlement agreement accompanies this press release. As part of the settlement agreement, the City will implement a directive (a copy accompanies this release) through the police department confirming its recognition that Illinois false personation of a public official statute does not apply to on-line parodies or satires of public officials, which cannot, by themselves, be the basis of a criminal investigation, arrest, or prosecution.
- Both sides recognize that “the settlement… is not an admission of liability or wrongful conduct… [and] that Defendants have agreed to settle this matter for economic reasons relative to the costs of further litigation”. (See paragraph 3.0 to the agreement)
- In fact, we believe strongly that the City would have ultimately won the case, but the reality is it would have cost the City several times the amount of the settlement in order to win in Court, and as a result, settling early was the soundest fiscal strategy for the taxpayers.
- Daniel has also agreed to dismiss all of the individual officials from the lawsuit in return for their agreement to not pursue any counter suit or other claims against him.
