Atkinson v. McLaughlin, Civil No. 03-91 (D. N.D. settled 2007).
Status: Settled (payment, if any, unknown)

Defendants are former volunteers at God’s Child Project charitable organization’s work in Guatemala who were removed from their positions. They then sent various e-mails and letters alleging that God’s Child Project founder Patrick Atkinson was untrustworthy, and making other allegations; they repeated some of these allegations on a web site they created in 1998, www.guatemalanchildren.org. Atkinson sued in 2003. In 2006, the court dismissed some of the claims in the suit, saying that North Dakota’s two-year statute of limitations on defamation barred most of the claims over what was posted to the site prior to 2001. But the court ruled that issues about postings since 2001 could proceed to trial. On May 15, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed pursuant to a settlement between the parties.

Links and Court Documents:
Ruling: http://www.ndd.uscourts.gov/dndopinions/html/1-03-cv-91-126.htm
Docket available via https://ecf.ndd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/iqquerymenu.pl?920 (PACER log in required)