Creator of facebook group sued for breach of contract

By Benjamin Ossoff

Though the U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear two cases regarding church-state separation in its latest session, it has agreed to hear a class action suit by Facebook members against a user who allegedly reneged on a contractual agreement. At issue is whether or not the Facebook group named "If 65,000 people join this group, I will streak through a Baghdad marketplace" constituted a contract between the creator, Jesse Finklestein, and the roughly 143,000 people who joined.

Finklestein told BoUNCe he had no idea he would get this kind of response. "I was only joking!" he said, "I thought it was obvious." But Priscilla Pruett, who organized the suit through "If 65,000 people join my group, I'll sue Jesse Finklestein," missed the humor: "We held up our end of the bargain, now it's time we saw that video!"

"Those untrained in the law might think this kind of breach was commonplace," said Nicolas Gage, a professor of law at Columbia University, "but far more weighty promises have been made and kept—Mike Blevins, recently convicted here in NY, upheld his agreement in 'If 300,000 people join this group, I'll kill my mother-inlaw.' And Judy Cochran of Mississippi didn't cop out when 43,000 people joined her MySpace group to see her get a list of her STDs tattooed to her thigh. There is definitely a precedent of some sort for calling this sort of thing a contract. I know I've heard of it."

Finklestein's public defender said he was hopeful that the situation could be resolved peacefully. "I think that if we just reason with these people, they'll drop the charges. It just seems like a case of miscommunication." Others were not so blithe about the situation.

If the court rules against Finklestein, he could face either $4,000 in fines or a nude stroll through the nearest public space. "We want people to keep their word, that's all," said Pruett.