The Illinois Supreme Court handed down a decision on May 24, 2012 in the matter of Paula Bonhomne v. Janna St. James that left the victim of an internet fraud without a remedy.
Paula, who lives in Los Angeles, and Janna, who lived in Batavia, Illinois started chatting on an internet chatroom for fans of the HBO show “Deadwood”. Janna then created a fictional person named Jesse and set up a separate email account for him and “introduced” him to Paula. Jesse and Paula began an online romantic relationship. Janna created a universe of twenty fictional online characters who were related to or friends with Jesse. Paula sent gifts and money to Jesse and eventually made plans to meet him and even to move in with him at his home in Colorado but just before she was to move, Paula was told by Jesse’s sister “Alice” that Jesse had died of liver cancer. Other “friends” and “relatives” sent condolences. Paula went into a deep depression and became physically sick.
Eventually, Paula’s actual friends discovered the fraud but by that time Paula had been through “an emotional ringer”. Paula sued Janna for fraudulent misrepresentation. Despite what seems to me to be an obvious injustice, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the complaint on the basis that the tort of fraudulent misrepresentation is strictly limited to business or financial transactions and does not apply to a purely personal relationship.
While I understand that the courts do not want to get involved with cases where boyfriends lie to their girlfriends (or vice versa), this seems to create a loophole for internet predators that the legislature needs to close. In the meantime, be careful on the internet. You may not know who you’re really dealing with.