Beware of what you say or post on the Internet.

It seems more people are willing to take you to court and make you pay.

Former Leaf GM Brian Burke sent out that warning in a lawsuit last week, and now comes word from Nashville of another lawsuit seeking damages for defamatory messaging posted online.

A Nashville man with a developmental disability and his parents have filed an $18 million lawsuit against a Tampa, Fla., radio station, a Minnesota resident and the company behind an online “sign generator.”

Adam Holland, who has Down syndrome, became the centre of insulting backlash on the Internet over a photo that traces back to 2004.

He was participating in an arts class at Vanderbilt University for students with mental disabilities when he proudly held up his artwork and posed for a picture.

The sign “Go Titans One” was a reference to the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League.

Holland was only 17 at the time and nothing came of this at the time.

However, nearly a decade later, the photo went viral on the Internet — and the lawsuit claims that many people repurposed the photo, replacing his hand-drawn sign with defamatory phrases.

The radio station WHPT-FM’s website pictured Holland holding a sign with “Retarded News” written on it, according to the lawsuit.

The radio station’s media conglomerate, Cox Media Group, removed the photo from the website and issued an apology.

However, more offensive material was allegedly found.

According to the lawsuit, they found a sign generator website www.signgenerator.org , operated by Gighertz, Inc. of Oswego. N.Y., that featured Holland’s photo as part of a “Retarded Handicap Generator.”

The website allowed users to add their own text in place of Holland’s artwork and download the image for a fee, the lawsuit claims.

Another image was found on a Flickr page maintained by Minnesota resident Russell LaLevee entitled “Wasted in the Keys.”

LaLevee described the posting, which he boasted received over 21,350 views over 25 months, as “just a stupid photo of the sick retarded kid that lives down my street that dogs hate.”

The lawsuit claims damages for invasion of privacy, “misappropriation of likeness, intentional infliction of emotional injury,” among other charges.

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Attorney Larry Crain told the Star that the problem with Internet communication is that “many people do not realize the consequences” of their actions.

“Once it is published on the Internet, it is impossible to retract and there is a a need for greater public awareness of posting private information. There needs to be an understanding of the consequences that will follow.”

He said in the old days, a person who handed over a photograph had certain expectations of what would happen to that photo.

“Today it is impossible control.”

In this case, Holland, who is now 26, didn’t post this photo. It was posted by his art class.

The attorney, Crain, said the mentally disabled man is “an innocent victim” and although he understands that “this is wrong, he probably doesn’t fully appreciate the harm that has been fully inflicted on him.”

The lawsuit contains only allegations that have not been proven in court.

Derogatory online postings have become a legal hot button issue as more people seek redress through the courts in lawsuits.

This was brought home last week when Burke filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court to unmask 18 anonymous people who used aliases to claim Burke had an affair with Rogers Sportsnet reporter Hazel Mae and that he was the father of her child.

Before Burke, there was the case of Ghyslain Raza, “the Star Wars Kid,” from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, who wielded an imaginary lightsabre as if he were an action figure in one of the Star Wars movies.

Raza became an Internet sensation and later sued the parties who posted the video on YouTube.