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Home > Gorman v. Meale

Gorman v. Meale [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 18:24

Summary

Threat Type: 

Lawsuit

Date: 

07/07/2009

Status: 

Pending

Location: 

Illinois

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Defamation
Negligence
Attorneys at Favaro & Gorman Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Jennifer Meale and Xcentric Ventures, LLC over allegedly defamatory posts made anonymously by Meale on Ripoff Report, a consumer review website.  It is not clear how the law determined that... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

Jennifer Meale; Xcentric Ventures, LLC

Type of Party: 

Individual
Organization

Type of Party: 

Individual
Organization

Location of Party: 

  • Illinois

Location of Party: 

  • Illinois
  • Arizona
Description

Attorneys at Favaro & Gorman Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Jennifer Meale and Xcentric Ventures, LLC over allegedly defamatory posts made anonymously by Meale on Ripoff Report [2], a consumer review website.  It is not clear how the law determined that Meale was responsible for the anonymous reports.

According to the Northwest Herald [3], Xcentric was named as a defendant because it failed to remove the allegedly defamatory postings despite repeated requests from Favaro & Gorman.  Xcentric will likely raise section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [4] as a defense.

Related Links: 

  • Northwest Herald: Woman sued for Net post [3]
Details

Web Site(s) Involved: 

Ripoff Report [2]

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Forum

Subject Area: 

  • Defamation
  • Third-Party Content
  • Section 230
  • Anonymity
  • Consumer Ratings and Reviews
  • User Comments or Submissions
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Illinois

Source of Law: 

  • Illinois

Court Name: 

McHenry County Circuit Court

Court Type: 

State
CMLP Information (Private)

Priority: 

1-High

CMLP Notes: 

07/13/2009 - LB editing; no court documents available on Illinois state court website; no docket on westlaw; no other news coverage that I can find

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:09pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/gorman-v-meale

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/gorman-v-meale
[2] http://ripoffreport.com/
[3] http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/07/08/r_cy452qfpq6iv6tanykygg/index.xml
[4] https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/immunity-online-publishers-under-communications-decency-act