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Home > Mobilisa v. Doe

Mobilisa v. Doe [1]

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Wed, 11/28/2007 - 10:07

Summary

Threat Type: 

Lawsuit

Date: 

08/08/2005

Status: 

Concluded

Disposition: 

Settled (total)
Subpoena Quashed

Location: 

Washington, Arizona

Verdict or Settlement Amount: 

N/A

Legal Claims: 

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
In mid-2005, Mobilisa, Inc., a Washington company that provides wireless and mobile communication systems to government and military clients, filed a John Doe lawsuit in state court in Washington. According to a court opinion in related litigation in Arizona, the dispute arose... read full description
Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat: 

John Doe

Type of Party: 

Organization

Type of Party: 

Individual

Location of Party: 

  • Washington

Legal Counsel: 

Randy Papetti, David A. Linehan, Michael K. Ryan

Legal Counsel: 

Christopher T. Witten, Charles Lee Mudd, Jr. (Defendant and ISP); John P. Flynn, Paul Alan Levy, Corynne McSherry (Amicus Curiae)
Description

In mid-2005, Mobilisa, Inc., a Washington company that provides wireless and mobile communication systems to government and military clients, filed a John Doe lawsuit in state court in Washington.

According to a court opinion in related litigation in Arizona, the dispute arose out of a June 21, 2005 email from Nelson Ludlow, the founder and chief executive of Mobilisa, to Shara Smith, who was having a personal relationship with Ludlow and was not employed by Mobilisa. Six days after Ludlow sent the email, members of Mobilisa's management team received an email from an anonymous sender with an address from "theanonymousemail.com," which is owned by The Suggestion Box, Inc., an Arizona corporation. The anonymous email contained the contents of Ludlow's email to Smith and the subject line: "Is this a company you want to work for?"

Mobilisa filed a lawsuit in Washington State, asserting that an anonymous defendant or defendants violated two federal statutes that make it illegal to "hack" electronic communications. The crux of the claim was that the anonymous defendant(s) accessed Mobilisa's protected computer systems and email accounts without or in excess of authorization.

In August 2005, Mobilisa filed an application in Arizona Superior Court requesting the court to issue a subpoena compelling The Suggestion Box to disclose the identity of the person who used its service to send the anonymous email. The court initially granted the request, but then vacated its discovery order when The Suggestion Box objected in December 2005. In this ruling, the court adopted the standard set out in Doe v. Cahill [2], 884 A.2d 451 (Del. 2005), to decide whether the identity of the anonymous defendant would be unmasked. The court found that Mobilisa had not satisfied the Cahill standard, but allowed the company to supplement its application. The court also ordered The Suggestion Box to notify its email account holder of Mobilisa's request for a subpoena.

In February 2006, counsel for The Suggestion Box notified the court that, with The Suggestion Box's consent, it would be representing the anonymous defendant in the matter as well. Through counsel, the anonymous defendant objected to Mobilisa's discovery request and asserted in an affidavit that he did not access or obtain the Ludlow email through Mobilisa's computers. Later that month, the court granted Mobilisa permission to conduct the requested discovery, ruling that the company had made a sufficient showing to meet the Cahill standard.

The anonymous defendant and The Suggestion Box appealed. On November 27, 2007, the Arizona appellate court remanded the case to the trial court for further consideration, holding that the lower court had applied the wrong standard. The court adopted the standard set forth in Dendrite Int'l, Inc. v. Doe [3], 775 A.2d 756 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2001). Under that standard, the lower court was required not only to apply the "summary judgment" standard from Cahill, but to determine additionally whether the balance of the parties' competing interests favored disclosure. The court upheld the trial court's earlier determination that Mobilisa had produced sufficient evidence to survive a motion for summary judgment.

Update:

2/13/2008 - Mobilisa moved to withdraw its subpoena and dismiss the action pursuant to a joint stipulation of the parties

3/17/2008 - The court dismissed the action.

Related Links: 

  • Public Citizen: Mobilisa v. John Doe 1 and The Suggestion Box [4]
  • EFF Deep Links Blog: Arizona Affirms Strong Protections for Anonymous Speech Online [5]
  • The Judicial Branch of Arizona, Maricopa County: Case Docket [6] 
  • CMLP: Mobilisa v. Doe: Another Big Win for Anonymous Speech Online [7]

 

Details

Content Type: 

  • Text

Publication Medium: 

Email

Subject Area: 

  • Anonymity
  • Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Court Information & Documents

Jurisdiction: 

  • Washington
  • Arizona

Source of Law: 

  • United States

Court Name: 

Superior Court, Jefferson County, Washington; Superior Court, Maricopa County, Arizona; Court of Appeals, State of Arizona, Division 1

Court Type: 

State

Case Number: 

CV2005-012619 (Arizona, trial level); 1 CA-CV 06-0521 (Arizona, appellate level)

Relevant Documents: 

PDF icon 2007-11-27-Court of Appeals Opinion.pdf [8]
PDF icon 2006-09-26-Amicus Brief on Appeal.pdf [9]
CMLP Information (Private)

CMLP Notes: 

Status updated on 6/5/2008. The Arizona docket shows that motions were filed ending the action, but it doesn't give details. (AAB)

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CivilCourtCases/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CV2005-012619 [6]

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Source URL (modified on 08/20/2014 - 11:04pm): https://www.dmlp.org/threats/mobilisa-v-doe

Links
[1] https://www.dmlp.org/threats/mobilisa-v-doe
[2] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2005-10-05-Decision%20Quashing%20Subpoena.pdf
[3] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2001-07-11-Decision.pdf
[4] http://www.citizen.org/litigation/forms/cases/CaseDetails.cfm?cID=232
[5] http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/11/arizona-affirms-strong-protections-anonymous-speech-online
[6] http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CivilCourtCases/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CV2005-012619
[7] https://www.dmlp.org/blog/2007/mobilisa-v-doe-another-big-win-anonymous-speech-online
[8] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2007-11-27-Court%20of%20Appeals%20Opinion.pdf
[9] https://www.dmlp.org/sites/dmlp.org/files/sites/citmedialaw.org/files/2006-09-26-Amicus%20Brief%20on%20Appeal.pdf