February 10, 2012

Gilding v. Carr

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.

Posted January 4th, 2008 by Stefani Wittenauer

Summary

Threat Type: Lawsuit	Date: 09/11/2007
Status: Pending	Location: Arizona
Disposition:	Verdict/Settlement Amount: n/a
Legal Claims: Defamation; Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; Tortious Interference
John Carr is the former past president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). Carr operates a blog, The Main Bang, on which he often criticizes the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In two blog posts in July 2007, Carr... read full description

Parties

Party Issuing Legal Threat:	Party Receiving Legal Threat:
John Gilding	John Carr; National Air Traffic Controllers Association; John Does I-V and Jane Does I-V, ABC Associations I-V
Type of Party:	Type of Party:
Individual	Individual; Organization
Location of Party:	Location of Party:
Arizona	Ohio
Legal Counsel:	Legal Counsel:
Michael W. Pearson, Robert D. Wooten	Kraig J. Marton, David N. Farren

Description

John Carr is the former past president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). Carr operates a blog, The Main Bang, on which he often criticizes the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In two blog posts in July 2007, Carr wrote about an FAA employee who committed suicide and detailed the actions of the employee's supervisor, John Gilding.

On September 11, 2007, Gilding commenced a lawsuit against Carr, claiming that Carr defamed him and placed him in a false light. Gilding further claims that Carr's blog falsely accused Gilding of "lying under oath in an administrative hearing" and "harrassing and intimidating a subordinate CPC to death." The complaint outlines several other statements that plaintiff alleges Carr "falsely and maliciously" made on his blog. The complaint requests relief in the form of general and punitive damages.

On October 31, 2007, Carr filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, asserting that Arizona state courts do not have jurisdiction over him because he is a resident of Ohio and has no contacts or business with Arizona. Carr later filed motions for summary judgment based upon defenses of truth, opinion, and absence of actual malice. On April 25, 2008, the court denied Carr's motion to dismiss.

Update:

10/27/08 - Gilding filed a Third Amended Complaint that added NATCA as a defendant.

11/19/08 - The case was removed to the US District Court for the District of Arizona.

11/25/08 - NATCA filed a motion to dismiss. Gilding opposed.

04/07/09 - The court granted Gilding's motion to remand back to state court and denied NATCA's motion to dismiss.

04/20/09 - The court granted Gilding's motion to appoint a Special Master to referee the discovery process.

04/23/09 - NATCA filed a notice of intent to appeal to the Ninth Circuit the decision to remand. Other defendants file similar notices.

04/24/09 - Gilding requested an award of attorney's fees.

05/14/09 - Gilding moved to dismiss NATCA's appeal.

06/02/09 - Guilding moved for a subpoena to be issued to obtain FAA investigation records regarding defendants Bob Marks and Jerry Johnston.

06/05/09 - The court denied Gilding's motion for an award of attorney's fees (originally made 4/24/09 and supplemented 5/21/09).

06/08/09 - NATCA moved to stay proceedings pending its appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

06/11/09 - Gilding submitted a brief opposing NATCA's appeal.

06/12/09 - Guilding opposed NATCA motion to stay.

Related Links:

The Main Bang: And Then They Came for Me
Main Bang: The Lookie What You Bought!!!
The FAA Follies: Time for you to step up and Bang away at the FAA...
Curry, Pearson & Wooten, PLC: Litigation Update and Current Events (regularly posts updates on the case, including plaintiff's filings)

Details

Website(s) Involved:	Content Type(s):
The Main Bang The Main Bang: A Fate Worse Than Death (the blog posts in question)	Text
Publication Medium:	Subject Area(s):
Blog	Business Torts Defamation Personal Jurisdiction

Court Information & Documents

Location of Filing/Threat:	Source of Law:
Arizona	Arizona
Court Name:	Court Type:
The Superior Court of the State of Arizona, Maricopa County; United States District Court for the District of Arizona	Federal; State
Case Number:
CV 2007-016329 (state); 2:08-cv-02137 (federal)
Relevant Documents:
Gilding Complaint (09-11-2007) Carr Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (10-31-2007) Carr's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Person Jurisdiction (10-31-2007) Gilding's Response to Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (11-23-2007) Gilding Response to Carr's Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction (11-26-2007) Gilding's Opposition to NATCA's Motion to Dismiss (01-07-2008) Carr's Motion for Summary Judgment - Absence of Malice (01-11-2008) Carr's Motion for Summary Judgment - Opinion (01-11-2008) Carr's Motion for Summary Judgment - Truth (01-11-2008) Carr's Renewed Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (01-11-2008) Gilding's Response to Carr's Renewed Motion to Dismiss (02-25-2008) Gilding v. Carr Ruling on Motion to Dismiss (04-25-2008) Defendant Marks' Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss (05-20-2008) Marks' Answer to Second Amended Complaint (06-18-2008) Gilding's Response to Carr's Motion for Summary Judgment - Opinion (10-23-2008) Gilding's Response to Carr's Motion for Summary Judgment - Truth (10-23-2008) Gilding's Third Amended Complaint (begins pg 15) (10-27-2008) Gilding v. Carr Notice of Removal (11-19-2008) NATCA's Motion to Dismiss (11-25-2008) Response in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss (11-26-2008) Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss (01-23-2009) Order Granting Gilding's Motion to Remand and Denying NATCA's Motion to Dismiss (04-07-2009) Gilding Discovery Master (04-20-2009) Gilding Motion Opposing appeal (05-14-2009) Gilding FAA Subpoena (06-02-2009) Gilding Brief Opposing appeal (06-11-2009) Gilding Opposing stay (06-12-2009)

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Last updated on July 1st, 2009

Truth

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 11:09.

Is this site supposed to represent factual, non-biased information? Because it doesn't. The summary claims that the Defendant accuses the Plaintiff of: "harrassing and intimidating a subordinate CPC to death." Well, yes it does, but that isn't at issue in the lawsuit. The complaint does indeed contain that quote, but if you follow the link provided to the actual text you find that the actual quote is this: "This was a man who lied under oath and manipulated the Training Order in order to harass and intimidate a subordinate woman...some say to death." That's quite different. To summarize the essence of the suit with a quote from the Plaintiff which is not only demonstrably false but proved false by a link on the same page, without also summarizing the defense is blatant bias.

A Summary

Submitted by Ed (not verified) on Mon, 10/13/2008 - 08:24.

Blatant bias... seriously? It's a summary, not the full text.

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Gilding v. Carr

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More Documents From the Case

Truth

A Summary

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