Jenn Allen His Sticking by Her Claims About Michael Arrington
In response to the defamation lawsuit filed by tech blogger and investor Michael Arrington, Jenn Allen, an entrepreneur who he once dated, is standing by her claims that he raped her in her recent legal response. First uncovered by Valleywag, Allen's filing does not say much: much of the response goes paragraph by paragraph through Arrington's suit and either flatly "DENIES the allegation" or "ADMITS the allegation." On the key claims, she maintains her previous positions — except for one.
RELATED: Reading Through Michael Arrington's Info Dump on Jenn Allen
In paragraph 4.8 of Arrington's suit, she is accused of posting a Facebook comment in which she said she had suffered "rapes and 8 years of physical, emotional, abuse from a man who has a history of sexual harasssment" and also claimed, "I've got letters from other women in tech to show how he really is." In her response, she writes, "Defendant DENIES for lack of knowledge the allegation in Paragraph 4.8." It's not clear what she's denying: that she posted the comment or the content of it? But it would be odd for her to deny that she made these claims but stick by the rest, which includes murder threats, abuse both sexual and physical, as well as rape, and an aborted pregnancy. All of those parts of her story she is sticking to. So what happens next?
RELATED: Journalists Still Don't Understand Silicon Valley
Arrington already has a suit against Allen, which he filed after Allen refused to "unconditionally retracts your false and defamatory statements." He seeks more than $75,000 in damages for the various comments all over the Internet Allen made describing an uncomfortable relationship with Arrington. In his original filing Arrington included a slew of "evidence" including email conversations, IMs, Facebook notes, and Twitter messages from Allen. This is the only response from Allen so far. And, Allen's lawyer refused to comment to Valleywag further on the filing, only reiterating to Sam Biddle that "she refused to retract her accusations, believes everything she's said about Arrington—that he raped her, impregnated her, threatened her, etc," writes Biddle. So, then, the case will proceed and maybe finally we'll get more answers in the curious case of Michael Arrington versus Jenn Allen.
RELATED: Silicon Valley Hates People Talking About Its Love of Spending Money
Photo by Joi Ito via Flickr
