Stepanov v. Journalism Development Network

Stepanov v. Journalism Development Network  (June 12, 2013)

Md. Cir.: Court Dismisses Libel Claim Over Money Laundering Articles

The court held that a series of articles about international money laundering schemes were not defamatory of plaintiffs, a former Russian diplomat and an offshore corporate registration company. Taken as a whole, the articles could not reasonably be read to infer that plaintiffs knowingly engaged in criminal activity.

Order: 
http://www.medialaw.org/images/medialawdaily/stepanov2.pdf

Hadley v. GateHouse Media

Hadley v. GateHouse Media (7/10/12)

STATUS: Defendant's motion to dismiss granted on 7/10/2012.

N.D.Ill.: Yet Another Case Says Section 230 Immunizes Newspapers From User Comments
Technology & Marketing Law Blog (Eric Goldman)
One of the safest bets in Section 230 jurisprudence is that a traditional media publisher won't be held liable for user comments to its website.
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2012/07/yet_another_cas.htm

>>Order: Hadley v. GateHouse Media
http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=historical

Huon v. Above the Law

STATUS: Complaint filed on May 6, 2011

N.D. Ill.: Lawyer Sues Legal Blog (Above the Law) for $50M Over Rape Story

Forbes (Blogs)
Getting publicly accused of committing rape is bad enough. Getting publicly accused of committing multiple rapes is considerably worse. Is the difference between the first and the second worth $50 million? That’s how much Chicago attorney Meanith Huon is seeking in damages from Above The Law, a legal-industry gossip blog, and its parent company, Breaking Media. Huon filed suit on May 6 in a federal district court in Illinois, claiming that an erroneous blog post has caused him emotional distress, destroyed his reputation and hurt his ability to find employment.
http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffbercovici/2011/05/11/lawyer-sues-legal-blog-for-50m-over-rape-story/

--Complaint: Huon v. Above the Law
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/illinois/ilndce/1:2011cv03054/255448/1/

Xcentric Ventures, LLC v. Bird, No.CV-09-01033-PHX-ROS (D. Ariz. Feb. 4, 2010)

STATUS: DISMISSED.

A lawyer-blogger posted an article analyzing lawsuits against RipOff Report, an internet publication; her article contained at least one error, and Xcentric Ventures (which owns RipOff Report) brought suit alleging defamation and "aiding and abetting" tortious acts by others. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds, forcing plaintiffs to prove jurisdiction. To meet their burden, the plaintiffs had to meet the "effects" test established by Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783, 789-90 (1984). The court held that while (1) the defendant had committed an intentional act in publishing the article, (2) it was not expressly aimed at the forum state (and did not consider whether the third factor was met -- whether the act caused harm, the brunt of which is suffered and which the defendant knows is likely to be suffered in the forum state). The court considered the second prong most, noting that apart from alleging that Defendants knew Plaintiffs were Arizona residents when the article was published (established only by circumstantial evidence), plaintiffs "did not allege any facts to support a connection between Arizona and the article." In accord with numerous other district courts, the court found that plaintiffs had not met their burden of proving jurisdiction.

Links and court documents
Complaint, filed May 4, 2009
Ripoff Report Sues Blogger, Loses on Jurisdictional Grounds, Technology & Marketing Law Blog, Feb. 12, 2010
Order Granting Motion to Dismiss, Feb. 4, 2010

MSG Holdings v. Cityfile, Inc., No. ______ (N.Y. Supreme Court filed July 2009).
Status: Settled.

MSG Holdings, which owns and schedules events at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, sued the Cityfile group blog site (cityfile.com) for a posting reporting that MSG was considering canceling Radio City's annual Christmas Spectacular, which has run for more than 75 years.

Before suing, MSG refuted the article in a comment posted to the site.

In September the parties settled, and the site posted a correction.

Links and Court Documents:
MSG SUIT: SITE SCROOGED US
'Spectacular' suit settled

Gooden v. Milum, No. _____ (Ga. Super. Ct. jury verdict Oct. 2007).
Status: $100,000 award to plaintiff; also $50,000 in attorney's fees

David Milum was sued by former Forsyth County employee Joseph Gooden for comments on the aboutforsyth.com web site accusing Gooden of accepting bribes and extorting money from vendors. A jury eventually awarded Gooden $100,000 in damages and $50,000 in attorney's fees.

Links and Court Documents:

Mentioned in http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060129/localnews/61856.shtml

Mentioned in http://www.forsythnews.com/news/article/3127/

Hammitt v. Busbin, Civil No. 07-13353 (Ga. Super., Chattooga County filed Dec. 12, 2007).
Status: Jury verdict for defendants (Aug. 4, 2009).

After withdrwaing their previous suit, Ed and Brenda Hammitt refiled their suit against operator of the RomeNewsbyWatson.com news and commentary blog over comments posted by a user of the site (with the pseudonym "dirtyboy") that accused them of growing marjuana and accused Ed Hammitt of defrauding the local electric company.

The suit named the poster, who was discovered to be Ken Busbin, and webmaster Teresa Watson, who they claimed encouraged such comments and actively edited them.

After a two-day trial in the Georgia Superior Court in Summerville, Ga., on Aug. 4, 2009 the jury held that webmaster Watson was not liable for the comments posted on her site, and that the comment at issue was not libelous.

Links and Court Documents:
http://rn-t.com/bookmark/3079120
http://rn-t.com/bookmark/3080502
http://www.rn-t.com/printer_friendly/3080502

Hammitt v. Watson, Civil No. 07-4954 (Ga. Super., Floyd County filed Dec. 2, 2007).
Status: Dropped by plaintiffs.

Ed and Brenda Hammitt sued the operator of the RomeNewsbyWatson.com web site over comments posted by a user of the site that accused them of criminal activity. The case was dropped by the plaintiffs in December 2007 for procedural reasons, but was refiled in Chattooga County.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/hammitt-v-watson
http://www.romenewsbywatson.com/?p=1315
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news859120.html
Complaint: http://www1.romenews-tribune.com/Files/Documents/Watsonsuit.pdf

Dennis v. Watson, Civil No. 07CV05202 JFL002 (Ga. Super., Floyd County default verdict Feb. 4, 2008).

Status: Trial on damages pending; interlocutory appeal pending before Georgia Court of Appeals.

In December 2007, Stephanie Dennis sued Teresa Watson, operator of the RomeNewsbyWatson.com web site, for comments posted on the site which alleged that Dennis was having an affair. [Although such suits are ordinarily barred by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. it, is unclear whether the argument was made in this case.]

After a short detour to federal court, which remanded the case to state court, Watson moved that the judge hearing the case recuse himself, but the judge refused; Watson then appealed the refusal to the Georgia Supreme Court. While the appeal was pending, the judge held two hearings in the case and on Feb. 4, 2009 held Watson in default when she did not appear, and planned to hold a trial on damages. The following day, Feb. 5, the Georgia Supreme Court transferred the case to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which on Feb. 11 declined to order the lower court to halt its proceedings.

Links and Court Documents:
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news948417.html
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news947488.html
http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpid=680&show=archivedetails&ArchiveID=1325823&om=1
http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news947926.html
http://thesummervillenews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=244
Supreme Court docket: http://www.gasupreme.us/docket_search/results_one_record.php?docr_case_num=S09M0738
Supreme Court remand: http://www1.romenews-tribune.com/Files/Documents/020709teresawatson.pdf

B.F. Shaw Printing Co. v. Skinner, No. ___ (Ill. Cir. Ct., McHenry County filed June 11, 2009).
Status: Pending

The publisher of the Northwest Herald newspaper sued blogger Cal Skinner Jr. over a June 3 posting on his McHenry County Blog (www.mchenrycountyblog.com) claiming that the newspaper had obtained a below-market-rate loan from the county government.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/06/11/r_w1e30nk9tseoambew296cw/index.xml

Duer v. Henderson, No. ____ (Ohio C.P., Miami County default verdict April 13, 2009).
Status: $129,794 default verdict for plaintiff

Melissa Duer, owner of the historic Staley Mill northeast of Dayton, Ohio, sued over statements in the book "Weird Ohio" and the Forgotten Ohio website (http://www.forgottenoh.com/) that the mill was haunted. In her suit, Duer said that the claims had put her and her family in a false light and intentionally caused them emotional distress. Duer also claimed that the statements led to people trespassing on the property, requiring her to get a guard dog and hire private security. The court dismissed the claims over the book, which Duer said she would appeal. But the owner of the website, Andrew Henderson, did not appear and a default judgment was entered. In addition to the award, which included expenses Duer alleged for security, alleged diminished value of the property, and attorney fees and litigation costs, the court also ordered Henderson to remove references to the mill from his site, and barred him from posting such references on any other website.

On Dec. 23, an appellate court in Ohio found that the trial court correctly found that no genuine issue of material fact existed as to Duer's claim for trespass to land.  2009 WL 4985475.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2009/03/19/ddn031909hauntedsuitweb.html
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/website-ordered-to-pay-125000-over-haunted-mill-claim-83396.html
http://www.themoneytimes.com/20090417/woman-wins-haunted-mill-lawsuit-id-1064179.html

Baltimore Sun v. Jeff Quinton (cease and desist letter April 15, 2009).
Status: Pending.

On April 15, 2009, The Baltimore Sun issued a cease and desist order to blogger Jeff Quinton on the issue of copyright infringement. The newspaper, owned by the Tribune Company, stated that "copying anything more than a headline or a paragraph from [a published news article] plainly constitutes copyright infringement." Quinton had previously admitted to the possibility that he was overstepping the borders of the Fair Use Doctrine. The letter was triggered by a post on Quinton's "Inside Charm City" blog (insidecharmcity.com) which excerpted five sentences from a Sun article, including a link to the original article but no additional disclaimer.

Links and Court Documents:
Infringing Blog Post: http://insidecharmcity.com/2009/04/14/nail-salon-accident-results-in-2nd-degree-burns-over-40-of-victims-body/
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/the-sun-to-balt.html

Brandon v. Wizeman, No. 2008CP2602845 (S.C. Cir. Ct. default bench verdict Jan. 20, 2009).
Status: Settled (appeal of $1.8 million award to plaintiff after default judgment dismissed).

Defendant Donald Wizeman operates the Myrtle Beach Insider blog (myrtlebeachinsider.blogspot.com), which comments on local news and politics. In June 2007, a post on the blog referred to Scott Brandon, the head of a local advertising agency, as a “failed lawyer” and criticized one of his firm’s advertising campaigns. Circuit Court Judge Diane S. Goodstein entered summary judgment on liability against Wizeman after he did not appear at a Sept. 2008 hearing. Wizeman sought to have the ruling vacated in December, claiming that he had not received notice of the hearing; Goodstein refused, and Wizeman has appealed. Meanwhile, a special referee appointed by Goodstein awarded Brandon $800,000 in compensatory damages and $1.0 million in punitives.

Wizeman appealed, but before the appeal was heard the parties reached a settlement.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/brandon-v-wizeman
http://www.thesunnews.com/business/story/856883.html

Odelson v. Doe, No. 2007-L-008807 (Ill. Cir. Ct., Cook County filed Aug. 21, 2007).
Status: Pending

Attorneys Burton Odelson and Mark Sterk sued over statements in the anonymous Proviso Insider blog (provisoinsider.blogspot.com; no archive before 2008) that they were going to be indicted for advising a local school board member on how to lie to a grand jury. Although originally filed against a John Doe defendant, the plaintiffs amended the suit to claim that the statements were written by District 209 School Board President Emanuel "Chris" Welch. While Welch says that he contributes to the blog, he denies writing the statements at issue in the suit. On June 26, 2008, Welch filed his own suit against Odelson and Sterk, as well as his former employer, alleging that they conspired to fire him after removing Odelson and Sterk’s law firm as counsel to the school board.

Links and Court Documents:
Docket: https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/Finddock.asp?DocketKey=CAAH0L0AAIIAH0LD
http://www.prairiestateblue.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3382
http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=2849&TM=76073.96
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-proviso-legal-fees_24jun24,0,1234016.story
http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=38&ArticleID=3304&TM=29435.78
http://provisoinsider.blogspot.com/2008/06/proviso-board-president-chris-welch_26.html

In re Subpoena Issued Pursuant to The Digital Millennium Copyright Action To: 43SB.Com, LLC, No. MS-07-6236, 2007 WL 4335441 (D. Idaho Dec. 7, 2007)
Status: Subpeona for information to reveal anonymous bloggers quashed in part

In a posting on the 43rd State Blues / Democrats for Idaho blog (www.43rdstateblues.com), an anonymous blogger with the pseudonym “Tom Paine,” posted comments reporting the “unverified” “rumor” that court documents showed “a deliberate series of payoffs for questionable expenses & honoraria to US Senator Larry Craig” by Melaleuca, Inc.

Melaleuca sent a letter to the website’s administrator demanding that the posting be removed. The original posting was removed, but the demand letter itself was posted on the site by someone with the pseudonym “d2.”

Melaleuca then sent a letter to the host of the website, seeking removal of the letter. The letter cited the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”), which allows copyright holders to demand that website hosts removed copyrighted material posted by users to a website. Melaleuca also sought the identity of “Tom Paine.”

On June 7, 2007, Melaleuca sent a pre-litigation subpoena to counsel for the website owner, demanding the production of all server logs and other information that could be used to identify “Tom Paine” and “d2.” 43SB filed a motion to quash the subpoena with the federal district court., which partially denied the motion to quash as to “sb”, thus requiring 43SB to reveal the information that could be used to identify “sb” (who had posted the takedown demand letter). But the court also partially granted the motion in regards to information regarding “Tom Paine,” since that person’s posting – the original rumors – were not subject to the DMCA takedown provisions.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2007/court-rejects-bid-use-dmca-bypass-first-amendment-protection-anonymous-speech
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2007/12/takedown_letter.htm
http://www.addict3d.org/news/265332/Copyright,%20Defamation,%20Bloggers,%20DMCA,%20Safe%20Harbors,%20Cease-And-Desists%20And%20Anonymity...%20Oh%20My!
District Court opinion partially granting motion to quash subpoena: http://www.citmedialaw.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2007-11-16-Report%20and%20Recommendation%20of%20Magistrate%20Judge%20--%20District%20of%20Idaho.pdf

Bell v. Shah, Civil No. 06-21063 (S.D. Fla. settled June 26, 2007).

Status: Settled for apology and $10,000

Plaintiff Joel Bell, who serves as a manager for several professional sports players, sued a writer for the website draftcity.com (which closed when the legal action was threatened) for items on the site disparaging Bell. Ruling on a motion to dismiss, the federal court in Connecticut held that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a Florida resident, even though the website was set up and registered by a one-time Connecticut resident. The federal court in Connecticut (see above) moved the case to the federal court in southern Florida. The parties eventually settled.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/bell-v-shah
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=379483&view=next&sid=e9b32f008e98909a27989cb35a3f1f98
Docket available at https://ecf.flsd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/iqquerymenu.pl?124513 (PACER log-in required)

Loan Center of California, Inc. v. Krowne, No. FCS029554 (Cal. Super., Solono Co. filed May 7, 2007).

Status: Non-monetary settlement after defendant’s motion to strike (anti-SLAPP motion) denied

The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter (ml-implode.com), a blog run by Aaron Krowne which tracks mortgage finance companies that are in financial trouble, posted the contents of an anonymous e-mail sent to the site alleging that Loan Center of California was having financial problems. (The e-mail contents were also posted on the AutoDogmatic blog (www.autodogmatic.com), run by a friend of Krowne’s.) Krowne removed the post the same day after Loan Center of California complained, but the company still filed suit. Krowne’s motion to have the suit struck under California’s anti-SLAPP statute was denied on Sept. 7, 2007; the case was settled two months later.

Links and Court Documents:

http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/wp-print.php?year=2007&monthnum=08&day=08&name=mortgage-implode-o-suit

http://www.thereporter.com/ci_6638254

http://ml-implode.com/viewnews/2007-07-26_JudgeFranklinRTaftDeniesMlImplodeMotionToStrikeviaAntiSLAPP.html (denial of motion to strike; includes documents)

http://ml-implode.com/viewnews/2007-07-05_LoanCenterofCaliforniaSuesMortgageLenderImplodeOMeterMotiontoStr.html (complaint; includes documents)

Case information and documents: http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/loan-center-california-v-krowne

Complaint: http://ml-implode.com/lcc_suit/complaint.pdf

Docket available via http://courtconnect.solanocourts.com

COURT MARTIAL: U.S. v. Clark (U.S. Army Ct. Martial 2005).

Status: Defendant fined and demoted

In July 2005, the U.S. Army demoted and fined Arizona National Guardsman Leonard Clark for publishing "classified" information on a blog (www.leonardclark.com/blog; now inactive) set up by friends that featured recordings of his phone calls from Iraq criticizing the war. The military later began requiring enlisted personnel to register their blogs with superiors.

Links and Court Documents:

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5815812.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164815,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8769418/site/newsweek/

http://cdn.kjzz.org/news/arizona/archives/200507/leonardclark/leonardclark.mp3 (audio)

Arthur v. Stern, No. 2008-24181 (Tex. Dist. Ct., Harris County (190th Dist.) filed April 21, 2008).
Status: Pending

Virgie Arthur, the mother of deceased celebrity Anna Nicole Smith, sued Smith’s attorney-boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, and several other defendants over allegedly defamatory statements made about Smith in various forums. Among the defendants named in the suit are the TMZ website (www.tmz.com) and bloggers Art Harris of “The Bald Truth” blog (www.artharris.com) and Nelda Turner, Lyndal Harrington, and Teresa Stephens of the “Rose Speaks” blog (www.rosespeaks.com).

Links and Court Documents:
http://annanicoleandhowardkstern.com/2008/04/anna-nicole-smiths-mother-virgie-arthur-files-defamation-suit-includes-bloggers/
http://perezhilton.com/2008-04-22-comin-to-get-yall
Complaint: http://annanicoleandhowardkstern.com/042108_Arthur_vs_Stern_Stern_Harris_Levin_bloggers_new.pdf

Nomvuyo Mzamane v. Huffington Post, No. 080905308 (Pa. C.P., Philadelphia County filed Oct. 3, 2008).
Status: Settled (Non-monetary).

In November of 2007, Joan Stewart posted a blog entry on the “Publicity Hound” and later on “the Huffington Post” falsely alleging that Nomvuyo Mzamane, the former headmistress of Oprah Winfrey’s South African Leadership Academy for Girls, had been charged with a crime in connection with a sexual abuse scandal at the school. Mzamane responded by filing a lawsuit for defamation against Stewart, The Huffington Post, owner Ariana Huffington, and separately against Oprah Winfrey. A settlement was reached by the parties in December, 2008, including public retractions and apologies. No money was exchanged.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/nomvuyo-mzamane-v-huffington-post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-stewart/what-ceos-can-learn-from-_b_73348.html