Recent Threats Added to the DMLP Database

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Ottinger v. Tiekert

Date: 09/04/2008
Status: Pending
Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New York
Publication: Forum
Former House Representative Richard Ottinger and his wife, June Ottinger, filed a John Doe lawsuit in New York state court over anonymous comments posted on a forum on LoHud.com.  In a special proceeding for pre-action discovery, the court...
- 09/09/2009 - 3:48pm - 0 comments

Kinay v. TCI Journal

Date: 08/19/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Website
A resort developer filed a John Doe lawsuit in California state court against the anonymous operators of TCI Journal, an online newspaper that reports on government corruption in the Turks & Caicos Islands. According to press ...
- 09/09/2009 - 11:01am - 0 comments

Sturm v. eBay

Date: 02/14/2006
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Dismissed (total), Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Website
Kiel J. Sturm sued eBay, Inc. for defamation after it refused to remove a comment critical of him left by a buyer, even after he obtained a court order ruling that the comment was defamatory. According to articles in the San...
- 09/09/2009 - 9:09am - 0 comments

Department of Homeland Security v Does

Date: 07/12/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Disciplinary Action
Jurisdiction: New York
Publication: Website
According to the Wayne County Star, the Department of Home­land Security is investigating racially insensitive comments posted to an article on the Wayne County Star’s website about a July 12 incident in which Border Patrol officials...
- 09/09/2009 - 8:55am - 0 comments

United States v. Does

Date: 06/02/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: Subpoena Enforced
Type: Subpoena
Jurisdiction: Nevada
Publication: Website
After anonymous users posted allegedly threatening comments to a Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) article about an ongoing federal criminal trial (the "Kahre case"), the US Attorney in that case issued a grand jury subpoena seeking information about all public commenters...
- 09/09/2009 - 8:03am - 0 comments

Cash4Gold v. Liberis

Date: 03/12/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Florida
Publication: Website
In March 2009, Cash4Gold sued Michele Liberis, a former employee, for defamation based on a post Liberis submitted to the consumer watchdog website Complaints Board.  As described in Cash4Gold's complaint, the posting contained numerous allegations of unsavory business...
- 09/03/2009 - 6:46pm - 0 comments

Palin v. Latif

Date: 05/05/2009
Status:
Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Correspondence
Jurisdiction: Texas
Publication: Website
Sarah Palin, then Governor of Alaska, sent a cease and desist letter to Shoe Latif, a Houston-based DJ, who redirected traffic from her website crackho.com to Palin's official website. The cease and desist letter claimed that...
- 09/02/2009 - 11:57am - 0 comments

Metropolitan Transportation Authority v. Schoenfeld

Date: 08/01/2009
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Settled (total)
Type: Correspondence
Jurisdiction: Connecticut
Publication: Website
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the Metronorth commuter rail services to New York City's northern suburbs, contacted Chris Schoenfeld demanding licensing payments for use of its schedules on his website, www.stationstops.com, and in his StationStops iPhone application, which both feature departure...
- 09/02/2009 - 11:09am - 0 comments

Rosenberg v. Spicy Bear Media

Date: 05/15/2009
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Material Removed, Settled (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Virginia
Publication: Blog
Rosenberg, a professional photographer, sued the operator of a Charlottesville, VA community blog (now defunct) for copyright infringement, claiming it failed to remove images of his photograph that were posted (twice) to its site by unknown...
- 08/31/2009 - 7:14pm - 0 comments

California Bar v. Wilson

Date: 01/23/2009
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Disciplinary Action
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Blog
The California Bar suspended Frank Russell Wilson for failing to disclose he that he was an attorney and blogging about a trial while serving as a juror. Wilson served a juror during the trial of a man charged with five counts...
- 08/31/2009 - 7:06pm - 0 comments

Frontera v. Embden

Date: 12/15/2003
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Settled (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New York
Publication: Forum
Details on this lawsuit are sparse, but it seems that a group of politically active people in Newburgh, N.Y. sued the creator and webmaster of the former forum section of the city's former official website, http://www.newburgh-ny.com (now redesigned and...
- 08/28/2009 - 5:05pm - 0 comments

Video Professor v. Informercial Consumer Awareness

Date: 05/03/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: Settled (partial)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Colorado
Publication: Website
Video Professor, a computer instruction software company, filed a lawsuit against the owners of Infomercialscams.com, a website which hosts anonymous reviews of infomercial products, and several related individuals asserting claims that the owners of Infomercialscams.com used the threat of negative consumer ratings to extort...
- 08/28/2009 - 10:57am - 0 comments

Devenyns v. Albero

Date: 07/24/2009
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Maryland
Publication: Blog
A Maryland prison director filed a defamation lawsuit against Maryland political blogger Joseph Albero for allowing an allegedly defamatory user comment to appear on his website. Douglas Devenyns claims an anonymous commenter on Albero's Salisbury News blog falsely stated he was a...
- 08/28/2009 - 10:11am - 0 comments

Doe v. Dirty World Entertainment

Date: 05/06/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Texas
Publication: Website
An anonymous Texas woman has filed suit in state court against the operator of The Dirty, self-described as the "first and most famous reality gossip blog," for allegedly lending credence to a third-party comment on the site that showed her...
- 08/25/2009 - 1:41pm - 0 comments

Quest Diagnostics v. Mercola

Date: 05/29/2009
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Publication: Website
Quest Diagnostics, a medical diagnostic testing company, sued Joseph Mercola, who runs the Natural Health Center along with a couple of related websites, over articles critical of Quest that were allegedly published by Mercola on one...
- 08/21/2009 - 11:02am - 0 comments

Office of Dispute Resolution v. Stengle

Date: 06/30/2006
Status: Concluded
Disposition: n/a
Type: Disciplinary Action
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Publication: Blog
Linda Stengle was a special education due process hearing officer from July 1998 through June 2006, working for the Pennsylvania Office of Dispute Resolution on consecutive one-year contracts.  In June 2006, her contract was not renewed because of her blogging activity.  On...
- 08/18/2009 - 12:07pm - 0 comments

Cousins v. Orr

Date: 04/07/2009
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Criminal Investigation
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Publication: Website
Erie, Pennsylvania police officers allegedly threatened Jeremy Orr and/0r his brother with a federal wiretapping charge if he did not remove a video from YouTube.  The video, which was shot in a bar on Orr's cell phone, showed one of the officers,...
- 08/17/2009 - 5:49pm - 0 comments

Keith Goodridge Construction v. WYBS, Inc.

Date: 08/18/2008
Status: Pending
Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Oregon
Publication: Website
In August 2008, Keith Goodridge sued WYBS, Inc., owner of the site www.merchantcircle.com, and a John Doe using the screen name "Attorney" over allegedly defamatory comments posted to the site.  According to the complaint, a posting from June 4, 2008...
- 08/17/2009 - 5:44pm - 0 comments

Lang v. Mason

Date: 05/09/2002
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Florida
Publication: Broadcast, Website
Jeffrey Lang, a Florida reconstructive and cosmetic surgeon, filed a lawsuit against reporter Michael Mason, MSNBC, its affiliate Waterman Broadcasting, and Mary Catherine Tourtillott, a former patient, for an allegedly defamatory news report that accused Lang disfiguring his patients. Lang's four-count complaint...
- 08/17/2009 - 5:28pm - 0 comments

Glass v. Doe d/b/a pogowasright.org

Date: 07/30/2009
Status:
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Blog, Forum
Jane Doe, an anonymous blogger and author of the website Pogo Was Right: Privacy News from Around the World, filed suit in the Central District of California against Lillian Glass, Ph.D. The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that (1) Doe is protected...
- 08/14/2009 - 3:28pm - 0 comments

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