Name-calling can result in a lawsuit, Cary woman learns

That old saying about sticks and stones and calling names?

It was all wrong.

Names not only can hurt, but they can get you sued.

Case in point: a Cary woman, who last week found herself being dragged into court by an acquaintance and her husband, over an unsavory term and sordid allegation she tossed their way during a night out last month.

I'll spare both sides the embarrassment of publishing their names, but the details of the lawsuit filed last week in McHenry County Circuit Court are too juicy to ignore.

According to the suit, the plaintiffs were attending a fundraiser for the Cary Baseball Federation at a local establishment Jan. 12, at the same time the defendant was there for a social gathering.

The suit states the two parties never met up until the plaintiffs were leaving at about 10:30 p.m. On their way out, the suit alleges, the defendant loudly said "Goodbye, (expletive)" to the female plaintiff, and then told her husband his wife was having an affair with a neighbor.

The statements, which the suit says are false, were made in front of about 20 of the plaintiffs' friends, acquaintances and business associates, and made loudly enough that each and every one of them could hear the comments.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Thomas Hargrove, alleges in the lawsuit that the woman who made the statements did it to hurt the couple's reputation and damage their marriage.

"(The) actions were not only unreasonable, but were outside the bounds of socially acceptable behavior," Hargrove says in the lawsuit. "She made the statement with hatred and contempt, with the intent to humiliate, disgrace, discredit, dishonor and ridicule (the plaintiff)."

The lawsuit seeks a minimum $50,000 in compensatory damage for the couple and another $100,000 or more in punitive damages.

So while the sticks and stones might not be true, another old adage comes to mind: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.