Mesa Airlines v. Uslan [1]

Mesa Airlines, which operates go! airline serving the Hawaiian islands, sued Mike Uslan, a pilot employed by rival Aloha Airlines, over postings Uslan allegedly made on the Dont Fly Go Airlines [2] website, a blog that was critical of go!  The lawsuit asserted claims for unfair competition, trademark infringement, false advertising, and defamation.

According to filings in the case, Uslan was allegedly the founder of an organization named “Hawaii's Airline Employees Repelling Ornstein" (HERO) that sought the ouster of Jonathan Ornstein, the Chief Executive Officer of Mesa's parent company, Mesa Air Group, Inc.  

The complaint [3] alleges that the following statements were defamatory:

• "Mesa Airlines’ employees may have been involved in a plot to murder or seriously injure a H.E.R.O member by removing the lug nuts from the member’s vehicle."  ¶ 40.
• "Mesa Airlines “cannot retain pilots because of its repeated contract violations and poor treatment of its employees.'" ¶ 43.
• "Mesa Airlines is unsafe and that Mesa Airlines’ pilot staffing in Hawaii is inadequate. ¶ 44.
• "Mesa Airlines has not supported Hawaiian communities. ¶ 45.
• "Mesa Airlines is 'dumping tickets below cost.”  ¶ 46.
• "Mesa Airlines 'abuses' its employees and that it has poor service in Hawaii due to employee turnover and dissatisfaction."  ¶ 47.
• "Mesa Airlines’ go! division ranks at the bottom of airlines in terms of complaints, lost baggage, cancellations, delays and over bookings." ¶ 48.
• "Mesa Airlines is violating Federal and Hawaii laws regarding predatory pricing." ¶ 49.
• The statement that “We should probably mention that the S.E.C., Capitol Hill, and a federal court judge aren’t happy, either.” ¶ 50.

Initially, Dont Fly Go Airlines [2] was registered to Domains by Proxy ("DBP"), an Arizona-based website hosting company that allows content providers to remain anonymous. The website was taken down after DBP received a letter from Mesa's counsel requesting removal of content that allegedly infringed on Mesa's trademark. In November 2006, the website was reactivated in a new format. Mesa's counsel again wrote to DBP and asked for removal of the allegedly infringing content and for the names of entities or persons responsible for the site. Subsequently, DBP ceased hosting the website; and a company in China began to host the site.

On June 25, 2007, the court dismissed [4] the case on jurisdictional grounds, noting that Uslan is a resident of the State of Hawaii and did not have sufficient contacts with the state of Arizon to warrant personal jurisdiction over him.