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Home > Skutt Catholic High School v. Does

Skutt Catholic High School v. Does [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 16:54

Summary

Threat Type: 

Lawsuit

Date: 

06/30/2006

Status: 

Pending

Disposition: 

Material Removed

Location: 

Nebraska

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Defamation
Skutt Catholic High School sued anonymous Wikipedia posters over critical edits posted to the school's Wikipedia page in 2006. The posts criticized the quality of education at the school and its high tuition, used vulgar language, and referenced student drug use. After... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

John and Jane Doe

Type of Party: 

School

Type of Party: 

Individual

Location of Party: 

  • Nebraska

Legal Counsel: 

Patrick Flood
Description

Skutt Catholic High School sued anonymous Wikipedia posters over critical edits posted to the school's Wikipedia page in 2006. The posts criticized the quality of education at the school and its high tuition, used vulgar language, and referenced student drug use. After filing suit, the school subpoenaed Cox Communications, the ISP for the IP addresses used to make the postings. A spokesman from Cox Communications told the Student Press Law Center [2] that the company would comply with the subpoena "unless there are further developments in the case, which quashes that order." The CMLP has been unable to determine whether Cox Communications ultimately complied and what ultimately happened in the underlying lawsuit.

Related Links: 

  •  Associated Press: Neb. Catholic high school sues over negative Wikipedia posting [3]
  • Omaha World-Herald (via editTeach): Catholic high school sues Wikipedia [4]
  • Techdirt: Why Sue Over Wikipedia Posts? [5] 
  • Student Press Law Center: High school sues after Wikipedia users make 'mean-spirited' comments [2]
  • The Wikipedia Signpost: School files suit against anonymous user(s) [6]
  • ZDNet: School files defamation claim against Wikipedia [7]
  • Euclid Managers Blog: Catholic School Sues John and Jane Doe over Wikipedia Posts [8]

 

Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

Wikipedia [9]

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Wiki

Subject Area: 

  • Defamation
  • Anonymity
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Nebraska

Court Name: 

Douglas County District Court, Nebraska

Court Type: 

State
CMLP Information (Private)

Priority: 

1-High

CMLP Notes: 

I (Stefani) researched this case, but I cannot find any more information on it.  My guess is that the school ended up withdrawng the suit, but I can't find anything else at all.  

AVM-6/9/09 Also looked into this and did not find any information.

CMF - 6/ 26/09- couldn't find any other information about the suit, so I guess it's been dropped. 

Source: Phil Malone

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:07pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/skutt-catholic-high-school-v-does

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/skutt-catholic-high-school-v-does
[2] http://splc.org/newsflash_archives.asp?id=1313&year=2006
[3] http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=17200
[4] http://www.editteach.org/news?id=36
[5] http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060724/0348214.shtml
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2006-07-24/Skutt_suit
[7] http://education.zdnet.com/?p=362
[8] http://blog.euclidmanagers.com/home/catholic-school-sues-john-and-jane-doe-over-wikipedia-posts.html
[9] http://www.wikipedia.org