Please read the case excerpt of Bonhomme v. St. James, 970 N.E.2d 1 (Ill. 2012)- posted below. It is a cat fishing case where the plaintiff, Ms. Bonhomme filed a multi-count suit against Defendant, Janna St. James, after Ms. St. James posed as a man online, entering into an almost 2 year online relationship with Ms. Bonhomme. The facts are quite amazing that someone has this much free time to create an elaborate online personae. At one point Ms. St. James faked the man’s death but still continued the relationship as a family friend of the deceased with Ms. Bonhomme. As a result, Ms. Bonhomme suffered emotional distress and incurred financial costs arising from the parties relationship over the 2 year period.
In the end, the court dismissed the case and the dismissal was affirmed on appeal by the Supreme Court of Illinois claiming there was no commercial or business relationship arising out of this situation.
Do you agree with the court? Why or why not? Could you argue under the facts that it was a commercial transaction on the part of the defendant? Should the law change to allow for such cases?
