November 22, 2009

Lawsuits Involving Section 230 (by date of filing)

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.

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

Devenyns v. Albero

Date: 07/24/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Maryland	Publication: Blog

A Maryland prison director filed a defamation lawsuit against Maryland political blogger Joseph Albero for allowing an allegedly defamatory user comment to appear on his website. Douglas Devenyns claims an anonymous commenter on Albero's Salisbury News blog falsely stated he was a...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 09/11/2009 - 2:07pm - 0 comments

Gorman v. Meale

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

Attorneys at Favaro & Gorman Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Jennifer Meale and Xcentric Ventures, LLC over allegedly defamatory posts made anonymously by Meale on Ripoff Report, a consumer review website. It is not clear how the law determined that...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/21/2009 - 6:06pm - 0 comments

First Call Properties v. Craigslist

Date: 05/29/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Texas	Publication: Website

First Call Properties and its officers filed suit against AAA Apartment Locating and Craigslist in Texas state court, alleging, among other claims, trademark infringement, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference. According to the complaint, First Call began...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/28/2009 - 2:48pm - 0 comments

Henry v. Google

Date: 05/20/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Mississippi	Publication: Other

Johnny I. Henry, an inventor of the vibrating toilet seat, filed a lawsuit against Google, Inc. and AOL, claiming that search results delivered by Google and hosted by AOL are defamatory. Henry, who is African-American, asserts that Google's search results include links...

Legal Threat - David Ardia - 05/28/2009 - 5:10pm - 0 comments

Doe v. Dirty World Entertainment

Date: 05/06/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Texas	Publication: Website

An anonymous Texas woman has filed suit in state court against the operator of The Dirty, self-described as the "first and most famous reality gossip blog," for allegedly lending credence to a third-party comment on the site that showed her...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/25/2009 - 12:47pm - 0 comments

Video Professor v. Informercial Consumer Awareness

Date: 05/03/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Settled (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Colorado	Publication: Website

Video Professor, a computer instruction software company, filed a lawsuit against the owners of Infomercialscams.com, a website which hosts anonymous reviews of infomercial products, and several related individuals asserting claims that the owners of Infomercialscams.com used the threat of negative consumer ratings to extort...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/28/2009 - 9:57am - 0 comments

Davis v. Google

Date: 04/09/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Blog

Cherie Davis, mother of 2006 gold medal winner Shani Davis, the first African American speed skater to make the U.S. Olympic team, sued Google, Inc. in Illinois state court, seeking an injunction requiring the company to take down a blog post written...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/05/2009 - 3:16pm - 1 comments

24grille v. TripAdvisor.com

Date: 04/02/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Michigan	Publication: Website

24 Grille, a self-described upscale restaurant at a hotel in Detroit, Michigan, filed a libel and negligence lawsuit against review site TripAdvisor.com after an anonymous TripAdvisor user advised others to avoid the restaurant. According to the complaint, the poster told...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 07/20/2009 - 8:14am - 0 comments

Esfeller v. The Daily Reveille

Date: 03/16/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Louisiana	Publication: Print; Website

In March 2009, Terrance Esfeller filed a defamation lawsuit in Louisiana state court against Louisiana State University, its student newspaper The Daily Reveille, faculty advisers to the newspaper, and its top student editors. The lawsuit revolves around anonymous comments posted on ...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 04/29/2009 - 11:16am - 0 comments

Dart v. Craigslist, Inc.

Date: 03/05/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Illinois	Publication: Forum

Thomas Dart, the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, filed a lawsuit against online classified site Craigslist, alleging that the site is a "public nuisance" because its users have posted ads in the "erotic services" category that facilitate prostitution....

Legal Threat - David Ardia - 07/15/2009 - 9:09am - 0 comments

Finkel v. Facebook

Date: 02/16/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New York	Publication: Social Network

Teenager Denise Finkel sued four of her former high school classmates, their parents, and Facebook after the students created a private Facebook group called "90 Cents Short of a Dollar," which allegedly contained false and defamatory statements about her. The complaint alleges...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 10/20/2009 - 6:23pm - 2 comments

Ascentive v. 1ShoppingCart.com

Date: 02/13/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Oregon	Publication: Forum

On February 13, 2009, Ascentive LLC, a company that develops software such as FinallyFast to improve computer performance, sued PCPitstop and its CEO, Rob Cheng, along with 1ShoppingCart.com, a conveyer of eCommerce software and...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/02/2009 - 6:55pm - 0 comments

Beverly Stayart v. Yahoo!, Inc. et al

Date: 02/05/2009	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Wisconsin	Publication: Website

In February 2009, Beverly Stayart filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! and two other internet services, Altavista and AdultFriendFinder, for unauthorized use of her name on the Internet. She claimed false designation of origin and false endorsement under the Lanham Act, as well...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 11/11/2009 - 10:28am - 0 comments

Wong v. Tai Jing

Date: 12/11/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Withdrawn
Type: Lawsuit	Location: California	Publication: Forum

Yvonne Wong, a pediatric dentist from Foster City, CA sued Tai Jing and Jia Ma, the parents of a boy she treated, after they allegedly posted a negative review about her on Yelp, a consumer review website. Wong also named...

Legal Threat - Sam Bayard - 03/24/2009 - 1:48pm - 0 comments

The Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc.

Date: 11/12/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Injunction Issued; Material Removed
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New Hampshire	Publication: Website

The following is a user-submitted description: Mortgage lender Mortgage Specialists filed a petition for injunctive relief against Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, a website that reports and publishes stories concerning the US housing-finance sector. In one story, Implode Explode covered Mortgage Specialists,...

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

Kronos Hotels LLC v. Thomas W. Showalter

Date: 11/12/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: n/a
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Georgia	Publication: Forum

This Georgia case involves a defamation action filed by a hotel company and its owners. They are suing a former employee who now operates a website that collects public information on the hotel chain and provides a forum for parties to share...

Legal Threat - tmc - 01/13/2009 - 3:55pm - 0 comments

Barnes v. Xcentric Ventures

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

A.H. Barnes, a California attorney who operates several businesses that help attorneys and other individuals find employment, sued Xcentric Ventures, LLC and Edward Magedson in California state court for defamation over reports published on the Ripoff Report website, which provides...

Legal Threat - Sam Bayard - 07/07/2009 - 3:42pm - 0 comments

Gibson v. Craigslist

Date: 09/04/2008	Status: Concluded	Disposition: Dismissed (total)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: New York	Publication: Website

New York City store owner Calvin Gibson sued craiglist, Inc. after a gunman shot him with a handgun allegedly purchased on craigslist. Gibson's lawsuit reportedly claims that neighbor Jesus Ortiz told police he had shot Gibson and that he had...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 08/05/2009 - 2:49pm - 0 comments

Certain Approval Programs v. Xcentric Ventures

Date: 08/29/2008	Status: Pending	Disposition: Dismissed (partial); Settled (partial)
Type: Lawsuit	Location: Arizona	Publication: Forum

Certain Approval Programs, LLC and its CEO Jack Sternberg sued Xcentric Ventures, LLC and Edward Magedson in Arizona federal court for defamation and other torts over a user report published on the Ripoff Report website. Ripoff Report is a website...

Legal Threat - CMLP Staff - 06/18/2009 - 1:33pm - 0 comments

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Lawsuits Involving Section 230 (by date of filing)

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

Devenyns v. Albero

Gorman v. Meale

First Call Properties v. Craigslist

Henry v. Google

Doe v. Dirty World Entertainment

Video Professor v. Informercial Consumer Awareness

Davis v. Google

24grille v. TripAdvisor.com

Esfeller v. The Daily Reveille

Dart v. Craigslist, Inc.

Finkel v. Facebook

Ascentive v. 1ShoppingCart.com

Beverly Stayart v. Yahoo!, Inc. et al

Wong v. Tai Jing

The Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc.

Kronos Hotels LLC v. Thomas W. Showalter

Barnes v. Xcentric Ventures

Gibson v. Craigslist

Certain Approval Programs v. Xcentric Ventures

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Lawsuits Involving Section 230 (by date of filing)

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