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Doe I and Doe II say they suffered psychologically from posts on AutoAdmit. |
AutoAdmit, which describes itself on its website as "the most prestigious college discussion board in the world," monitors posts discussing college admissions, financial aid, and the LSAT exam, among other topics.
However, according to an article on arstechnica.com, both Doe I and II "claim to have lost sleep, fallen behind on schoolwork, suffered strained personal relationships with their families, and were forced to attend therapy as a result of the postings on AutoAdmit."
"The users of a third-party law school message board have consistently and regularly made such disparaging remarks about [both Does'] characters that it has cost them not only their emotional wellbeing, but internships and jobs."
Doe I applied for 16 different on-campus interviews at Yale, the article goes on to say, but received no offers. "On information and belief, it is unprecedented for a second-year law student from Yale to participate in so many interviews without obtaining a single summer associate offer," says an article on arstechnica.com. Especially when others, whose academic qualifications were similar to hers, had received offers.
However, getting what the students want, which includes $245,000 in punitive damages, could be hard. AutoAdmit Administrator Anthony Ciolli, according to www.arstechnica.com, "may be protected by laws stating that a site's administrators aren't responsible for the posts made by its users, such as the DMCA's Safe Harbor for copyrighted content." Also, because Ciolli "did not author the posts himself," he may not be responsible for what is posted on the website.
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