By guest blogger Sydney Muray, Certified Paralegal In the 1980s, a 12-year-old girl named Amy Hestir was manipulated by her seven-grade music teacher into an abusive sexual relationship that lasted over a year. While Amy suffered severe emotional trauma as…
By Eric Goldman T.V. v. Smith-Green Community School Corp., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88403 (N.D. Ind. Aug. 10, 2011). It appears we will get a steady stream of legal rulings about teens being teens while playing around with Facebook accounts….
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Janson v. LegalZoom, Inc., 2:10-CV-04018-NKL (W.D. Mo. Aug. 2, 2011) Background: LegalZoom offers “blank legal forms that customers may download.” In addition, LegalZoom makes available an internet portal. Here’s how LegalZoom describes this aspect of its…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I’m inclined to agree with Eric that internet personal jurisdiction cases are not the most exciting. The resolution of a question over whether personal jurisdiction is proper often has more to do with whether the court…
By Eric Goldman Online copyright cases have been coming at such a furious pace that I haven’t had a chance to keep up. This blog post wraps up the last 4 months of decisions. Arista Records v. Myxer, Inc., 2:08-cv-03935-GAF-JC…
By Eric Goldman Desai v. Clark, 2011 WL 3359971 (N.D.Cal. August 2, 2011) I’ve been seeing a steady stream of defamation and related claims over discussions in stock message boards. This case is representative of what I’m seeing. Ketan Desai…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Swift v. Zynga, 2011 WL 3419499 (N.D. Cal.; August 4, 2011) The US Supreme Court decided AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion earlier this year, and a question left open in that decision is…
By Eric Goldman Google v. Jackman, 2011 WL 3267907 (N.D. Cal. July 28, 2011) This is a default ruling, so the facts are based on Google’s allegations. The defendants ran AdWords campaigns for online pharmacies that sold anabolic steroids. This…
By Eric Goldman Gauck v. Karamian, 2011 WL 3273123 (W.D.Tenn. July 29, 2011) TheDirty.com has an increasingly active litigation docket. This case comes from Lauren Lee Gauck Giovanetti, a TV news reporter for Fox 13 in Memphis, Tennessee. She sued…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Onnen v. Sioux Falls Independent School Dist., 2011 S.D. 45 (South Dakota; Aug. 3, 2011) If any modern day communication is more inconsequential than a “happy birthday” post on Facebook, I’m not sure what is. We’ve…