Marvin v. Shell [1]

Jay Marvin, a Chicago talk-radio host, sued Janice Shell and two John Does over comments the three defendants made about him on the Raging Bull finance forum [2] and from email sent by Shell to Marvin's employer, complaining about his alleged harassment of her.  Marvin filed claims of defamation, false light, and tortious interference against the defendants in Illinois federal court in April 2002.

The court dismissed [3] Marvin's original complaint [4] due to Marvin's failure to show jurisdiction by establishing the citizenships of the John Does. Marvin then amended [5] his complaint to focus solely on claims against Shell. Shell filed counterclaims alleging defamation based on comments that Marvin made about Shell on the Raging Bull forum.

In November 2002, Shell moved to dismiss [6], arguing that Marvin had failed to establish any of his claims. The court granted the motion in part, dismissing Marvin's claim of tortious interference, but retaining the defamation and false light claims. Also, at the court's prompting, Marvin formally dismissed [7] claims against the John Doe defendants. In January 2004, the parties settled [8].