POSTED MAR 06, 2015 01:55 PM CST
Angry and upset by an online attack that seemed to be coming from a disgruntled client, Colorado lawyer Timothy Bussey retained counsel to find out who was behind the criticism of his law firm on a Google page.
The answer, a U.K. High Court judge ruled, was Jason “Jay” Page, a British man in his twenties who lives at home with his parents, reports the Mirror. The judge awarded Bussey 100,000 pounds in damages and costs–approximately $150,410–in what is believed to be a record verdict in that country in a case involving an Internet troll.
It isn’t clear why Page targeted Bussey for the baseless criticism and the defendant argued at trial that a hacker must have hijacked his web identity. However, the judge, Sir David Eady, called that explanation “extremely improbable.”
Solicitor Will Richmond-Coggan represented Bussey and his firm and called the award “a great result for our clients.” Richmond-Coggan and the judge suggested that others might be behind the Internet attack on Bussey and the solicitor said an investigation is ongoing in both the U.K. and the U.S.