College Review Website Ordered To Pay $1M For Users’ Disparaging Reviews–Neumont University v. Little Bizzy
Before the headline freaks you out too much, let me highlight the most important fact: this is a default ruling. The defendant was a company but it says it couldn’t find cost-effective counsel, so the company’s principal tried to defend…
Facebook Post Isn’t Good Reason To Remove Attorney From Probate Court Case Assignment List
Butler is an attorney licensed in Michigan. She enrolled on the list to receive case assignments from Washtenaw County Probate Court. While she was on the list and receiving assignments, she made a post to Facebook regarding the performance of…
Fair Use Protects Video Republication To Demonstrate Speaker’s Inconsistent Statements–Caner v. Autry
As recounted by the court’s order, Caner was raised in Ohio. His father was a devout Muslim. After his parents divorced, Caner “spent weekend visitation at the mosque in Columbus, Ohio.” At some point, Caner started attending a church and…
Don’t Roll The Dice On Defamation Suits Against Gripe Sites, Especially In California–Ocean’s Eleven v. Anders
This case involves the now defunct website www.oceans11.info. There’s one archival version in Archive.org from 2012, though I found it confusing. The website was a gripe site created by Tim Anders (a/k/a “Dr. Hope“), a professional poker player. Anders protested…
Dead Sea Scrolls Impersonation Case Convictions Partially Affirmed
I previously blogged about the Dead Sea Scrolls impersonation and harassment case, involving some rather elaborate schemes implemented by the son of Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Norman Golb. (“Conviction Upheld for Impersonating Dead Sea Scrolls Scholars by Sending Out Emails…
Linking to Defamatory Content Protected by Section 230—Vazquez v. Buhl
Teri Buhl posted allegedly defamatory content about Vazquez to the Internet. A CNBC editor linked to that post in an article entitled “The Sex and Money Scandal Rocking Hedge Fund Land.” The CNBC article characterized Buhl as a “veteran financial…
Yelp Wins Another Section 230 Case–Kimzey v. Yelp
This is such an easy case, it could have only been brought pro se. The suit involves two Yelp reviews by a user named “Sarah K.” that were allegedly defamatory and otherwise tortious. The court’s substantive discussion (some citations omitted):…
Conviction for Cyberstalking & Revenge Porn Survives First Amendment Challenge
There’s no way to look at what Shawn Sayer did and think that he should not suffer some criminal consequences. After breaking up with his girlfriend of a couple of years (Doe), he engaged in a vicious and ongoing campaign…
California Moving To Protect Consumer Reviews–AB 2365 (Forbes Cross-Post)
Consumer reviews play a critical role in our marketplace today, and existing consumers can have significant influence over prospective consumers. Many businesses have accepted this new competitive reality, but not all. For example, some businesses ask their customers to contractually…
Another Attempt to Scrub Unflattering Posts Fails
This is another social media defamation case. (Last week’s edition: Another Questionable IP Lawsuit Over a Derogatory Twitter Account.) Plaintiffs were husband and wife. One of the plaintiffs (Hassan Miah) was involved in a business dispute involving a business he founded…