Davis v. Avvo, Inc. [1]

Florida attorney Larry Joe Davis, Jr. filed a complaint [2] in Florida state court against Avvo, Inc.  Avvo operates a website, www.avvo.com, that serves as a social networking site for attorneys and doctors.  The site also allows members of the public to research attorneys by maintaining profile pages for individual attorneys on which Avvo provides information about the attorney's practice and a numerical rating for the attorney.  The profile pages also allow members of the public to post comments about the attorney.  Avvo does not permit attorneys to withdraw or to shut down their profiles after initially "claiming" the profile.

Davis claims that Avvo (1) defamed him in the information contained in his attorney profile, including allegedly incorrect information regarding the nature of his law practice and his level of public recognition, (2) engaged in the unauthorized commercial use of his likeness by posting a photo of Davis on the profile page, and (3) engaged in unlawful trade practices by placing allegedly false information on Davis's profile page, requiring him to "claim" the page in order to correct the information, and then refusing to allow him to remove the page because it had been claimed.

Updates:

•  9-14-2010: Davis files an Amended Complaint [3], deleting his claims for libel and replacing them with claims for false light invasion of privacy and false advertising based upon the alleged misrepresentation of his practice area.
• 10-19-2010: Avvo removes [4] the case to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on the basis of diversity of citizenship.
• 4-25-2011: Davis files his Third Amended Complaint [5].
• 5-23-2011: Avvo moves to strike [6] Davis's Third Amended Complaint.
• 5-30-2011: Avvo moves to transfer venue [7] to the Western District of Washington, arguing that Davis agreed to the website's Terms of Use which include a choice of venue provision naming the Washington district.
• 7-7-2011: The court denies as moot Avvo's motion to strike the Third Amended Complaint.
• 9-13-2011: The court grants Avvo's motion [8] to transfer venue to the Western District of Washington.