Michigan's Court of Appeals upholds Isabella Trial Court's decision in Todd Levitt parody Twitter account case
Mount Pleasant Attorney Todd Levitt, right, is accusing the defendants of libel and slander, false light invasion of privacy, intentional interference with business expectancy, civil conspiracy, infliction of emotional distress and reckless conduct due to a story written by Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis and published by The Morning Sun.
Michigan's Court of Appeals upheld the Isabella Trial Court's February 2015 decision Thursday in Mount Pleasant attorney Todd Levitt's case against a parody Twitter account.
The state appellate court supported Isabella County Chief Judge Paul Chamberlain's decision to grant defendant, former CMU student Zachary Felton, a summary disposition, a determination made by a court without issuing a legal opinion.
Levitt's appeal aimed to show the Isabella County Trial Court made errors when it failed to consider Levitt's other claims against Felton, which include false light, intentional infliction of distress, libel, tortious interference with business relations and business defamation.
Levitt, a former CMU fixed-term faculty member, said Monday he plans to take the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.
"It's not about me at this point, it's about the issue and the law," he said in a phone interview. "It's too important of an issue not to take it to the highest courts. It have to be decided by a higher court."
The court stated Felton's tweets from the parody account, Todd Levitt 2.0 @levittlawyer, could not be reasonably interpreted as coming from Levitt himself. The court also acknowledged the account identifying itself as a parody.
"When read in context, (Felton's) tweets are a parody and cannot reasonably be interpreted as coming from Levitt, an attorney and college professor," the appellate panel ruled. "Further, defendant’s tweets expressly stated, on multiple occasions, that the account was intended as a parody."
Levitt deleted his personal Twitter account, Todd Levitt @levittlaw, in April 2014. Both trial and appellate courts acknowledged the subject of Levitt's own tweets, which reference drug and alcohol use.
"As noted by the trial court, when the challenged tweets are read in the context of Levitt’s own tweets, a reasonable person would see (Felton's) tweets as attempting to ridicule and satirize Levitt’s tweets about alcohol and marijuana use."
Some of Levitt's tweets included reminiscing about his days as a student at CMU, stating he “tore it up” in the 1980s. He tweeted about being a guest bartender at a local bar and about throwing an end-of-semester party. In one tweet, he posted an ode to “mommy marijuana,” who “always put(s) me at ease.”
A parody account impersonating Felton has also been created.
