NISKAYUNA — A Niskayuna woman has filed a notice of summons against nine people in state Supreme Court in Schenectady County, claiming that the defendants defamed her on social media.
Caroline McGraw is seeking $1 million in damages from the defendants for alleged false and defamatory statements made against her on Twitter from October 2021 and April 2022.
McGraw, the daughter of former Niskayuna Town Board member Denise Murphy McGraw, previously sued Twitter in state Supreme Court in April in hopes of uncovering the identity of the person behind the @niskyfails Twitter account, which McGraw alleges defamed her in a series of posts.
The defendants in the new proceedings include former Niskayuna Town Board member Rosemarie Perez Jaquith, who on Wednesday released a statement through her law firm, Greenberg Traurig, regarding the summons.
“Any allegation against Miss Jaquith will be vigorously defended,” the statement said. “In any event, it would have no merit, as she was not responsible for the posting of the anonymous Twitter account at issue.”
Additional defendants in the summons include Niskayuna Deputy Police Chief Michael Stevens, Andrew Bigness, the former confidential secretary to former Town Supervisor Yasmine Syed, Lisa Goronsky, Scott and Lisa Stevens, Margaret Brennan, former Deputy Town Attorney Alexis Kim and an additional unidentified defendant.
“There’s this group of people who have decided to smear a young woman who was working for the town in a summer job along with hundreds of other young people who had summer jobs,” McGraw’s attorney, Thomas Abinanti, said on Wednesday. “They did this solely because she was related to a town official. I see people intentionally smearing a young person who is not a public figure in the town for their own reasons and benefit.”
Abinanti declined to discuss how the plaintiff identified the defendants and if their identities were tied to McGraw’s lawsuit against Twitter.
“We have reason to believe that these are people who have been involved in the smear campaign to defame this young woman who was working in a summer job for the town,” the Pleasantville attorney said.
Abinanti on Wednesday said that the plaintiff has yet to file a complaint in the proceedings. “After we serve everybody, then we’d draft and file a complaint,” he said.
The summons states failure to appear in response to the legal action may result in a default judgment of $1 million against any of the nine defendants.
“This type of attack is really despicable,” Abinanti said of the allegations. “It damages the reputation of a young woman just out of college and employers in the future will see these smears. So there’s permanent damage here.”
McGraw, a 2018 graduate of Niskayuna High School, secured a victory in state Supreme Court in May when Judge Mark Powers ruled that the plaintiff could subpoena identifying information from Twitter regarding the @niskyfails account.
GAZETTE COVERAGE
Ensure access to everything we do, today and every day, check out our subscribe page at DailyGazette.com/SubscribeMore from The Daily Gazette:
Extreme cold moves Amsterdam's WinterFest to Feb. 11- Letters to the Editor Wednesday, Feb. 1 - Two, from readers in Rexford and Niskayuna
- Livingston Energy Group expanding to Rotterdam Industrial Park
- Advocates surveying Ellis Medicine patients amid merger talks
- You Better Run: St. Johnsville's Geesler keeps running Across the Years
Categories: Email Newsletter, News, News, Schenectady County, Your Niskayuna
One Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
“This type of attack is really despicable,” Abinanti said. But allegedly not as despiciable as yet another idiotic money grab lawsuit. I hope Judge whoever throws it out and slaps you with contempt. Frivolous lawsuits need to stop, but with money hungry, greedy lawyers around every corner, and juries with the combined intelligence of a magic marker, you get what you get. I love america.