Mitan v. Davis [1]

On February 20th, 2008, the Mitans filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky against eight individuals located throughout the U.S. and Vitramax Group, Inc., alleging libel and slander.  The Mitans' complaint claims that Emory and Carol Davis created a website called the "Mitan Alert" in October of 1999, and that a U.S. Bankruptcy Court previously found the website to be defamatory and ordered them "to cease and desist publication of the website, to remove it from viewing on the Internet, and never to publish the website again." 

The complaint further alleges that the Davises sent printed pages of the website to the other defendants via fascimile, and that the other defendants then transmitted those printed pages to third parties.  The Mitans do not identify any specific allegedly defamatory statements, but allege that the web pages "tend to prejudice [them] in their trade, calling and/or profession since the information damages [their] reputation for honesty, integrity, and morality."

Ronald Rash, Achim Neumann, Craig Cullinane, Linda Cullinane, and Thomas F. Cullinane, Jr., submitted motions to dismiss the complaint based on lack of personal jurisdiction. The Cullinanes also argued [2] that section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [3] barred the claims against them because the Mitans only alleged that they "received, faxed or discussed or discussed the content of a website that [they] did not author, edit or create."

The court granted the motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding that Rash, Neumann, and the Cullinanes did not have sufficient minimum contacts with Kentucky.  The court rejected the Mitans' argument that receiving information from Kentucky was sufficient to confer jurisdiction.  The court did not reach the Cullinanes' section 230 argument.

The case is ongoing against Carol and Emory Davis and Vitramax. They filed an answer and counterclaims alleging abuse of process in June 2008.