Fake MySpace Profile Leads School Principal to Sue Students

Authored by Scott Goldberg on April 9, 2007 - 7:15am.

Hermitage, PA – Eric W. Trosch, a high school principal here, sued four former students last Friday for a fake MySpace page they had created about him in December 2005, Breitbart reports. Among his many alleged vices, the profile said Trosch “smoked pot, kept beer at school and liked having sex with students.”

According to John Quinn, Trosch’s attorney, the profile “went far and beyond what you would see on a bathroom wall in a school.”

One of the defendants, Justin Layshock, was suspended when Trosch first learned about the profile he had created. Layshock sued the school saying the suspension violated First Amendment rights. A judge declined to reinstate him.

Techdirt wrote this morning, “Instead of suing, it seems like a better course of action would have been to simply contact MySpace and request that the profiles be taken down. Now, for better or worse, he'll always be known as the principal that sued his students over fake MySpace profiles….”

Scott Goldberg