Xcentric Ventures LLC v. Bird [1]

On January 21, 2009, plaintiffs Xcentric Ventures, LLC and Edward
Magedson, operators of the website RipOffReport.com, filed a complaint
in Arizona state court against defendants Sarah L. Bird and John Doe
Bird, as well as their company, SEOMONZ, Inc. d/b/a SEOMonz.org.  The
Complaint asserted a claim for defamation, based statements made by Ms. Bird in an article on the SEOMonz.org website entitled "The Anatomy of a RipOff Report Lawsuit."  According to the Complaint, the article made false and libelous statements about the plaintiffs, including the "implication" that "Rip-Off Report is actually drafting 'defamatory titles'" that appear on the Rip-Off Report website, as well as advice to readers suing Rip-Off Report that they should "'allege that the website created and/or substantially altered the meaning of the content', regardless of whether they have actual evidence of that fact."  The Complaint futher cited the "implication" from the article that "the plaintiffs and attorneys who have sued Rip-Off Report for violations of the RICO Act have had a legitimate basis for making these allegations."

On May 14, 2009, defendants removed the case to federal court and filed a Motion to Dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.  On February 4, 2010, the District Court granted defendants' motion, holding that defendants actions were not "expressly aimed" at Arizona, and that plaintiffs failed to show a connection between the alleged tort (the publication of an article containing allegedly defamatory statements) and the forum (Arizona), other than plaintiffs' residence in the state. Plaintiffs have appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit.