November 22, 2009

Recent Threats Added to the CMLP 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.

Grebner v. Lennox

Date: 05/14/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Michigan	Publication: Wiki

Ingham County Commissioner and Michigan political consultant Mark Grebner filed a defamation lawsuit in Michigan state court against three conservative activists for allegedly inserting false and defamatory information into his biographical Wikipedia entry. The defendants are three university students active...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/25/2009 - 12:28pm - 0 comments

Quest Diagnostics v. Mercola

Date: 05/29/2009	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New Jersey	Publication: Website

Quest Diagnostics, a medical diagnostic testing company, sued Joseph Mercola, who runs the Natural Health Center along with a couple of related websites, over articles critical of Quest that were allegedly published by Mercola on one...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/21/2009 - 10:17am - 0 comments

Office of Dispute Resolution v. Stengle

Date: 06/30/2006	Status: Concluded	Disposition: n/a
Type: Disciplinary Action	Location: Pennsylvania	Publication: Blog

Linda Stengle was a special education due process hearing officer from July 1998 through June 2006, working for the Pennsylvania Office of Dispute Resolution on consecutive one-year contracts. In June 2006, her contract was not renewed because of her blogging activity. On...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/18/2009 - 11:43am - 0 comments

Cousins v. Orr

Date: 04/07/2009	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Criminal Investigation	Location: Pennsylvania	Publication: Website

Erie, Pennsylvania police officers allegedly threatened Jeremy Orr and/0r his brother with a federal wiretapping charge if he did not remove a video from YouTube. The video, which was shot in a bar on Orr's cell phone, showed one of the officers,...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/17/2009 - 4:50pm - 0 comments

Keith Goodridge Construction v. WYBS, Inc.

Date: 08/18/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Oregon	Publication: Website

In August 2008, Keith Goodridge sued WYBS, Inc., owner of the site www.merchantcircle.com, and a John Doe using the screen name "Attorney" over allegedly defamatory comments posted to the site. According to the complaint, a posting from June 4, 2008...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/17/2009 - 4:44pm - 0 comments

Lang v. Mason

Date: 05/09/2002	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Florida	Publication: Broadcast; Website

Jeffrey Lang, a Florida reconstructive and cosmetic surgeon, filed a lawsuit against reporter Michael Mason, MSNBC, its affiliate Waterman Broadcasting, and Mary Catherine Tourtillott, a former patient, for an allegedly defamatory news report that accused Lang disfiguring his patients. Lang's four-count complaint...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/17/2009 - 4:28pm - 0 comments

Glass v. Doe d/b/a pogowasright.org

Date: 07/30/2009	Status:	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Blog; Forum

Jane Doe, an anonymous blogger and author of the website Pogo Was Right: Privacy News from Around the World, filed suit in the Central District of California against Lillian Glass, Ph.D. The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that (1) Doe is protected...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/14/2009 - 2:28pm - 0 comments

Salon Professional Academy v. Blacconiere

Date: 07/27/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Social Network

A Chicago-area cosmetology school has filed suit against Illinois resident Nicholas Blacconiere and an unknown John Doe for allegedly creating a Facebook page that the school claims defamed its directors and used its logo without permission. The Salon Professional Academy of Elgin,...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/14/2009 - 1:41pm - 0 comments

Sedgwick Claims Management Services v. Delsman

Date: 04/03/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Blog; Print; Website

Sedgwick, a company that provides insurance claims management services, sued Robert Delsman, a former employee of one of Sedgwick's clients, for copyright infringement, defamation, and other torts, after he created gripe sites, blogs, videos and print materials criticizing the company. Delsman's beef...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/11/2009 - 11:05am - 0 comments

National Portrait Gallery v. Coetzee

Date: 07/11/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Correspondence	Location:	Publication: Wiki

Counsel for the National Portrait Gallery in London sent a cease-and-desist letter to a U.S. citizen in July 2009, complaining about his posting of images of thousands of its portraits on Wikimedia Commons, a site associated with Wikipedia....

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/11/2009 - 10:42am - 0 comments

Pearl Public School District v. Jackson

Date: 09/10/2007	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Disciplinary Action	Location: Mississippi	Publication: Social Network

Mandi Jackson, a former cheerleader at Pearl High School, filed a lawsuit against Tommie Hill, her former cheerleading coach, and other school officials, claiming that Hill and other teachers punished and humiliated Jackson after accessing and disseminating the content of private conversations...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/17/2009 - 10:19am - 0 comments

Grijalva v. Brandt

Date: 03/11/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Email

Grijalva and Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students (CSFES), a website which reports fraud and abuse committed against foreign exchange students, filed a lawsuit against ASSE International, Inc. (ASSE); Helga Brandt; and Josef Motycka, claiming defamation and unfair business practices for...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/06/2009 - 3:20pm - 0 comments

Florida v. Figueroa-Santiago

Date: 11/01/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Criminal Charge	Location: Florida	Publication: Social Network

The State of Florida filed criminal charges against three men for allegedly violating a state law prohibiting the promotion of gang activity over the Internet. The statute, Fla. Stat. 874.11, was adopted on June 30, 2008 as part of the...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/06/2009 - 12:43pm - 0 comments

Moore v. Allen

Date: 06/26/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Minnesota	Publication: Blog

Former University of Minnesota employee Jerry Moore filed a lawsuit in June 2009 against blogger John Hoff, online commenter Don Allen, and five anonymous commenters who Moore says published intentionally defamatory content in order to get him fired. The lawsuit was filed...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/05/2009 - 5:08pm - 0 comments

Vinogradov v. Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Date: 05/26/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Subpoena	Location: Montana	Publication: Website

Aleksandra Vinogradov, a professor at Montana State University, subpoenaed the Bozeman Daily Chronicle for information concerning comments made on the Chronicle's website in connection with two articles published in March and April 2009 regarding the trial in Vinogradov's...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/05/2009 - 4:19pm - 0 comments

Park West Galleries v. Fine Art Registry

Date: 03/04/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Michigan	Publication: Website

Park West Galleries (PWG), an art gallery that also performs auctions on cruise ships, sued Fine Art Registry (FAR), an organization that, according to The Art Newspaper, offers “advocacy to victims of art fraud and abuse” including a system of...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/05/2009 - 4:02pm - 0 comments

Guardian Civic League v. Philadelphia Police Department

Date: 07/15/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Pennsylvania	Publication: Forum

The Guardian Civic League has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 2,300 black Philadelphia police officers against the Philadelphia Police Department for allegedly allowing its officers to post racist and offensive content on Domelights.com, a website focused on law...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/05/2009 - 3:42pm - 0 comments

Lewandowski v. Lavandeira

Date: 07/15/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Blog

Jonathan Lewandowski, who apparently operates a celebrity blog under the pseudonym Jonathan Jaxson, filed a lawsuit against Mario Lavandeira, better known as celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, for allegedly mentioning Jaxson in a ...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/31/2009 - 3:54pm - 0 comments

Martin v. Langlois

Date: 06/01/2009	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Injunction Issued; Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Rhode Island	Publication: Social Network

Michelle Langlois, whose brother is embroiled in a pending child custody case with his ex-wife, posted information and commentary about her brother's case to her Facebook account. Tracey Martin, the ex-wife, filed a "domestic abuse" petition in Kent County Family Court against Langlois, claiming...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/31/2009 - 7:21am - 0 comments

Gannon v. Walker

Date: 11/20/2006	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Arizona	Publication: Blog; Print; Website

Edward Gannon, a pilot with US Airways, filed a lawsuit against Paula Walker, Sue Burris, and Brian Shunick, three airline attendants, claiming that they defamed him by reporting Gannon's willingness to take-off in an airplane with iced wings to...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/28/2009 - 4:54pm - 0 comments

Copyright 2007-09 Citizen Media Law Project and respective authors. Except where otherwise noted,
content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License: Details.
Use of this site is pursuant to our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice.

Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

Grebner v. Lennox

Quest Diagnostics v. Mercola

Office of Dispute Resolution v. Stengle

Cousins v. Orr

Keith Goodridge Construction v. WYBS, Inc.

Lang v. Mason

Glass v. Doe d/b/a pogowasright.org

Salon Professional Academy v. Blacconiere

Sedgwick Claims Management Services v. Delsman

National Portrait Gallery v. Coetzee

Pearl Public School District v. Jackson

Grijalva v. Brandt

Florida v. Figueroa-Santiago

Moore v. Allen

Vinogradov v. Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Park West Galleries v. Fine Art Registry

Guardian Civic League v. Philadelphia Police Department

Lewandowski v. Lavandeira

Martin v. Langlois

Gannon v. Walker

Database Resources

Recent Lawsuit Threats

Recent Subpeona Threats

Recent Letter/Email Threats

Recently Updated Threat Entries

Navigation

Recent Threats Added to the CMLP Database

Database Resources

Citizen Media Law Briefs

Recent Lawsuit Threats

Recent Subpeona Threats

Recent Letter/Email Threats

Recently Updated Threat Entries

Navigation