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/

Nuewirth v. Silverstein, No. SC094441 (Cal. Super., Los Angeles County dismissed Nov. 27, 2007), rev’d, No. B205521 (Cal. App. Feb/ 9, 2009).
Status: Grant of anti-SLAPP motion (dismissing case) reversed in part, trial on outstanding claims pending

Conservative commentator Rachel Neuwirth sued blogger Richard Silverstein for postings on his Tikun Olam blog (www.richardsilverstein.com) criticizing Neuwirth, including referring to her as "Kahanist swine" (referring to ardent Israel supporter Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was killed in 1990). Neuwirth also sued Stanford University professor Joel Beinin over comments he sent to Haifa University’s “Academic Left” listserv (list.haifa.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/alef). The claims against both defendants were dismissed on an anti-SLAPP motion, after the court found that Neuwirth was a public figure and that the topics discussed were of public interest. Nuewirth appealed, and the appellate court reversed the dismissal on two of the statements at issue.

Links and Court Documents:
ttp://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=18589
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2009/neuw021109.htm
Case info and documents: http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/neuwirth-v-silverstein
Trial court docket available at http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilCaseSummary/index.asp?CaseType=Civil (enter case number)

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

Banks v. Milum, No. _____ (Ga. Super. Ct. verdict for plaintiff Jan. 27, 2006), aff’d, 283 Ga.App. 864, 642 S.E.2d 892 (Ga. App. March 5, 2007), cert. denied (Ga. June 4, 2007).
Status: $50,000 award for plaintiff affirmed

NOTE: This is the first case against a true blogger of which MLRC is aware that has gone to trial and resulted in a liability verdict.

Attorney Rafe Banks III sued political activist David Milum for statements made on his website on local politics in Forsyth County, Georgia, aboutforsyth.com (under new management). Several postings on the site alleged that Banks had delivered bribes from drug dealers to a now-deceased judge. After a four-day trial and six hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Banks $50,000 in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages. After the verdict, Milum said that someone else was taking over the web site. On appeal, the verdict was affirmed.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/banks-v-milum
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060129/localnews/61856.shtml
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060129/opinion/61864.shtml
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060125/localnews/60583.shtml
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1173363835339
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20070308/localnews/160529.shtml
Appellate decision: http://www.dailyreportonline.com/Editorial/PDF/PDF%20Archive/A06A2_394.pdf

Vogel et al. v. Felice, No. CV0127424 (Cal. Super., San Benito County filed Sept. 2001).
Status: Denial of anti-SLAPP motion reversed, 127 Cal.App.4th 1006, 26 Cal.Rptr.3d 350 (2005).

Plaintiff candidates for public office alleged that defendants maintained two web sites -- www.geocities.com/bobvalenzuelasass and www.geocities.com/bobvalenzuelasass.isonfire.com -- which made several derogatory statements about plaintiffs, including that they were “dumb asses” and that one was an alcoholic and the other was a “deadbeat dad.” Defendants sought to get the case dismissed under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. The trial court denied the motion, but on appeal the California Court of Appeals reversed the lower court and granted the motion dismissing the case. The appeals court also held that calling someone a “dumb ass” is not defamatory.

Links and Court Documents:
Case and documents: http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/vogel-v-felice
Appeals Court decision: http://www.casp.net/cases/felice.html

Tallerico v. Doe, No. BC398715 (Cal. Super., Los Angeles County filed Sept. 24, 2008).

Status: Pending.

The lead singer of the rock group Aerosmith, Steven Tyler – whose real name is Steven Tallarico – sued the anonymous authors of two fake blogs, that were removed from the blogspot.com website at Tyler’s request. One of the blogs, tylers849021.blogspot.com, purported to be written by Tyler himself, while the other, shelikespurple.blogspot.com, purported to be written by his girlfriend. In January 2009, the clerk filed papers that the plaintiff had failed to file proof of service of the suit.

Links and Court Documents:

http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE48O0DQ20080925

Case information and documents: http://www.citmedialaw.org/threats/tyler-v-does

Romeo v. Ballard, No. 2006-1067 (Ark. Cir. Ct. dismissed Dec. 17, 2006)
Status: Dismissed

A detective in the Saline County, Ark. sheriff’s office sued Gary Ballard, the operator of a web site (philmask.com; no longer operational) that focused on criticism of Saline County Sheriff Phil Mask. The detective, Sgt. Sandy Romano, sued over an article from the Benton Courier -- republished on the site -- over allegations by Gary Ballard’s wife that Romano had threatened her. The article states that Romano had been “dismissed from the Benton Police Department after she was charged with possession of drugs with intent to deliver;” elsewhere, the site refers to Romano as a “drug user.” The suit claimed that the web site did not mention that the charges had been dismissed

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/romen-v-ballard
Court documents available at https://www.ark.org/grs/app/saline (search for plaintiff or defendant)

Covington v. King, No. C-07-00687 (Okla. Dist. Ct., Pittsburg County 2007).
Status: Dismissed.

Steve Covington, the owner of a payday-loan business, sued Harold King, owner of the McAlester Watercooler blog and bulletin board (www.mccooler.net), over comments connecting Covington with former Oklahoma State Senator Gene Stipe, who was convicted of federal corruption charges in 2004. A state judge denied the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order in June 2007, and the case was dismissed on March 5, 2008.

Links and Court Documents:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/covington-v-king
http://www.mcalesternews.com/local/local_story_167184837.html
http://www.mcalesternews.com/cnhi/mcalesternews/homepage/local_story_170170347.html
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070619_1_A9_hButt58503&breadcrumb=state Docket: http://www.odcr.com/detail.php?Case=061-C%20%20%200700687&County=061-

Moore v. O'Bannon, No. _____ (Miss. Cir. Ct., Hines County filed March 2006
Status: Unknown

Jackson, Miss. minister Rev. Ronald K. Moore and his wife sued Valerie O'Bannon, a Jackson native now living in Minnesota, over a web site (which no longer exists) that she launched in January 2006 which claims that she and Moore had a five-month affair. In February, Moore won an order from a Mississippi Chancery Court judge ordering O'Bannon to take down the site, and tried to have her jailed for contempt when she did not do so. But the Chancery judge held that the matter belonged in Circuit Court, and Moore filed suit in that court shortly thereafter.

Links and Court Documents:
http://s2.excoboard.com/exco/archive.php?ac=t&forumid=4052&date=06-20-2006&t=754127-1