From Wednesday's decision by Judge K. Michael Moore in Signorello v. Murphy (S.D. Fla.):
{The following facts are taken from the Complaint, and a "party in default has admitted all well-pleaded allegations of fact" therein.} Underlying this action is an altercation between Plaintiffs and Defendant in Lisbon, Portugal.
Defendant accompanied Plaintiffs, who were both college students, on a night out after meeting by chance earlier that day, which according to Plaintiffs was initially welcome but became increasingly uncomfortable throughout the evening, culminating in an "almost manic" outburst from Defendant after which he started following Plaintiffs' group and accusing one of Plaintiffs' classmates, Harry, of stealing money. As Defendant continued to harass and follow Plaintiffs' group, Harry took out his wallet to offer Defendant the allegedly stolen cash to end the confrontation, but Defendant grabbed his wallet, tore up the bills, and yelled: "You think this money means anything to me?!"
After further attempts to retrieve the wallet, at the suggestion of nearby club bouncers the group went to the police, who located Defendant and forced him to return the wallet. Defendant again started yelling obscenities and otherwise harassing Plaintiffs' group, which led to a physical altercation where Defendant was attacking Harry and Plaintiffs were jumping on Defendant and pulling him to the ground to end his attack, after which they got away.
Immediately Defendant sought to make himself a victim of the attack, both in the moment and on social media in the following days, prompting the police to investigate Plaintiffs. Defendant spoke menacingly to Neubauer by mentioning his address in Tennessee, which he had apparently researched since the fight, and after Plaintiffs left Portugal, Defendant and his associates continued to send harassing messages to Plaintiffs' group over email, text, X, as well as sending defamatory and harmful information about Plaintiffs to their school, Washington & Lee University. Both Washington & Lee University and their study-abroad affiliate school in the United Kingdom required Plaintiffs to explain the altercation and Defendant's accusations.
Aside from the group, Plaintiffs' parents and Signorello's sister have also received harassing text messages with pictures of Defendant's injuries and demands for payments, among other texts characterizing Plaintiffs as having committed a crime, which caused them academic and professional issues and embarrassment.
Plaintiffs sued for, among other things, defamation; the defendant failed to adequately respond, and was thus found in default, which meant that plaintiffs' factual allegations were accepted. Here is the court's analysis:
