Recent Threats Added to the DMLP Database

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Milwaukee Police Dept. v. Clint Fillinger

Date: 09/21/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Criminal Charge
Jurisdiction: Wisconsin
Publication: Broadcast
On September 21, 2011, Clint Fillinger, a photojournalist, was arrested for resisting and obstructing an officer after police confronted Fillinger while he was attempting to film at the scene of a house firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Fillinger, a 68-year-old journalist with 45...
- 10/06/2011 - 4:52pm - 0 comments

Admission Consultants, Inc. v. McGraw Hill Publishing Co.

Date: 08/22/2007
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Subpoena Enforced
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New York
Publication: Forum
Admission Consultants, Inc. petitioned the New York Supreme Court to order McGraw Hill, publishers of the BusinessWeek "B-School" forums, to disclose the registration information of several BusinessWeek forum posters.  The posters allegedly defamed Admission Consultants in their posts. On October 3,...
- 09/29/2011 - 2:13pm - 0 comments

Snyder v. Creative Loafing, Inc.

Date: 11/24/2010
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New York, District of Columbia
Publication: Blog, Print
On November 19, 2010, the Washington City Paper published "The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder." The article levied a wide array of complaints about Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins NFL franchise since 1999. The complaints...
- 09/02/2011 - 2:33pm - 0 comments

Bay Area Rapid Transit v. Protesters

Date: 08/11/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Police Activity
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Email, Forum, Social Network, Verbal
According to SF Weekly, on July 3, 2011, a homeless man named Charles Hill was shot to death by police officers for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District ("BART"). Two and a half years earlier, BART police used...
- 09/02/2011 - 11:04am - 0 comments

Hannibal Public School District v. D.J.M.

Date: 10/24/2006
Status: Pending
Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Disciplinary Action
Jurisdiction: Missouri
Publication: Email
In the fall of 2006, D.J.M. was a 10th grade student in the public school system in Hannibal, Missouri. On October 24 of that year, D.J.M. sent a series of messages to a fellow classmate, C.M., over an instant messaging platform. The...
- 09/01/2011 - 9:25am - 0 comments

Massachusetts v. Portnoy

Date: 08/12/2011
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Police Activity
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Publication: Blog
David Portnoy runs a sports and humor blog entitled Barstool Sports, which the Boston Globe calls a "popular and controversial" website. Late in the week of August 8, 2011, Portnoy posted a picture of toddler child Benjamin Brady,...
- 08/31/2011 - 12:28pm - 0 comments

Sherrod v. Breitbart

Date: 02/11/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: Lawsuit Filed
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
Publication: Blog, Micro-blog, Website
On February 11, 2011, former United States Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod filed in District of Columbia Superior Court a defamation lawsuit against Andrew Breitbart and Larry O'Connor, two individuals involved with the prominent conservative political blog BigGovernment.com. The complaint also...
- 07/21/2011 - 5:11pm - 0 comments

S.C. v. TheDirty

Date: 05/20/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: Lawsuit Filed
Type: Correspondence
Jurisdiction: Missouri
Publication: Website
On April 14, 2011, plaintiff "S.C." sued TheDirty, a gossip web site that advertises itself as the "first ever reality blogger," and Nik Richie, owner of the web site, for posting allegedly defamatory comments submitted by a third party. According to the...
- 07/18/2011 - 5:38pm - 0 comments

Newport Television, LLC v. Free Press

Date: 07/01/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence
Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
Publication: Website
Non-profit media reform organization Free Press recently created a brief video related to its "Change the Channels" campaign, a campaign to resist what it calls the "covert consolidation" of media companies. The video included a critique of Jacksonville,...
- 07/14/2011 - 8:32am - 0 comments

Giordano v. Romeo

Date: 09/17/2009
Status: Pending
Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Florida
Publication: Website
John Giordano, president of a Florida-based addiction treatment company, filed suit (individually and on behalf of his company) against Donna Romeo over a posting on consumer-reporting website Ripoff Report. The post describes the treatment facility's conditions in harsh terms, and...
- 07/12/2011 - 5:35pm - 0 comments

Carleton Hotel LLC v. Gladstone

Date: 06/15/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: Lawsuit Filed
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Publication: Website
On June 15, 2011, Carleton Hotel LLC (owner of The Carleton at Oak Park hotel) filed suit against two customers for a negative review posted on travel site TripAdvisor.com. The defendants allegedly posted the review after staying at The Carleton...
- 07/07/2011 - 5:45pm - 0 comments

Façonnable USA Corp. v. John Does 1-10

Date: 04/07/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: Settled (total), Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Colorado
Publication: Wiki
On April 7, 2011, clothing company Façonnable filed suit in Colorado federal court against a set of John Doe defendants.  According to the complaint, around March 1, 2011, one or more anonymous individuals edited the Wikipedia entries of Façonnable and...
- 06/29/2011 - 5:28pm - 0 comments

Barclays Capital v. TheFlyOnTheWall.com

Date: 06/26/2006
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Verdict (defendant)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New York
Publication: Website
TheFlyOnTheWall.com is, according to its website,  a subscription-based investment-news service that "filter[s] through market information" to assist investors. In mid-2006, a group of investment firms brought suit against FOTW over the latter's use of the firms' investment research and recommendations....
- 06/21/2011 - 2:23pm - 0 comments

Rakofsky v. The Internet

Date: 05/11/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: Lawsuit Filed
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: New York
Publication: Blog, Email, Print
In March 2011, Joseph Rakofsky represented a defendant in a murder trial in Washington, D.C. According to court filings, on April 1 he withdrew as counsel, leading to a mistrial, at which time the presiding judge made a number of unflattering statements...
- 06/15/2011 - 2:00pm - 0 comments

Righthaven LLC v. BuzzFeed, Inc.

Date: 03/30/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Colorado
Publication: Website
Righthaven LLC, a Las Vegas company, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against BuzzFeed, Inc. (the operator of an internet news website), Jonah Peretti (the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed and...
- 06/15/2011 - 11:00am - 0 comments

Colocation America v. Garga-Richardson (2nd Letter)

Date: 08/16/2010
Status: Concluded
Disposition: Lawsuit Filed
Type: Correspondence
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Forum
On August 16, 2010, counsel for Colocation America and Mr. Albert Ahdoot sent a cease-and-desist letter to Archie Garga-Richardson, the founder and operator of ScamFraudAlert.com. ScamFraudAlert.com is a forum site that focuses on alleged Internet scams, security threats, and fraudulent...
- 05/03/2011 - 11:47am - 0 comments

Colocation America v. Garga-Richardson (2nd Lawsuit)

Date: 10/29/2010
Status: Pending
Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: California
Publication: Website
In October 2010, Albert Ahdoot and Colocation America, a company providing computer server co-location to companies operating on the Internet, sued Archie Garga-Richardson, the founder and operator of ScamFraudAlert.com, in California. The plaintiffs claimed that Garga-Richardson committed...
- 04/29/2011 - 4:16pm - 0 comments

Righthaven LLC v. Vote For The Worst, LLC

Date: 06/28/2010
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Nevada
Publication: Forum
On June 28, 2010, Righthaven LLC, a Las Vegas company associated with Las Vegas Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the website company Vote for the Worst ("VFTW") LLC and two of its managers, David Della Terza...
- 04/18/2011 - 4:46pm - 0 comments

Righthaven LLC v. Sumner

Date: 01/27/2011
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Colorado
Publication: Website
Righthaven LLC, a Las Vegas company associated with Las Vegas Review-Journal owner Stephens Media LLC, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against William Sumner and DailyKix.com.  Righthaven alleged that Sumner used a photo copied from the Denver Post without permission on...
- 04/06/2011 - 10:53am - 0 comments

Rajagopal v. Does

Date: 10/22/2010
Status: Pending
Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit
Jurisdiction: Virginia
Publication: Website
Usha Rajagopal, a plastic surgeon in San Francisco, sued ten John Does for defamation and various business torts in Virginia state court.  The claims stem from reviews of Rajagopal posted by the defendants on Google.com. Rajagopal also subpoenaed Google to determine the...
- 03/15/2011 - 5:27pm - 0 comments

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