Daughter’s Celebratory Facebook Post Really “Sucked”–Gulliver Schools v. Snay
Patrick Snay was headmaster at Gulliver Preparatory School, a private school in the Miami area. The school didn’t renew his contract, so he sued for age discrimination and retaliation. The parties settled confidentially for $150k, broken down as $10k of…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 5 (Miscellaneous)
* Ars Technica: How the feds took down the Dread Pirate Roberts. A great story on how hard it is to remain anonymous online against determined federal agents. * Nice Reuters retrospective on Judge Rader. * DailyDot: The battle to destroy Wikipedia’s biggest sockpuppet army. Related: Is Wikipedia…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 4 (Social Media, Advertising, E-Commerce)
Facebook * MarketingLand’s coverage of Facebook’s increasingly complicated algorithm for ranking news feed stories. * People v. DeJesus, 2013 WL 6327657 (Cal. App. Ct. Dec. 4, 2013): As for defendant’s claim about an Internet posting to a group as potentially violating the trial court’s…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 3 (Content Regulation)
Section 230 * The Good Wife on CBS had an episode, “Whack a Mole,” that addressed Section 230. It got Section 230 right on defamation damages but wrong on injunctions. * Preliminary injunction in Backpage v. Hoffman, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119811 (D.N.J. Aug. 20, 2013)….
Facebook Rant Against ‘Arial’ Font Helps Reverse Sex Offender Determination
Another day, another workplace problem due to an off-hours Facebook rant. Doe is a convicted sex offender. He fought the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board’s determination that he needed to register as a level 3 sex offender. As part of…
Social Worker’s Facebook Rant Justified Termination — Shepherd v. McGee
Shepherd v. McGee, 2013 U.S. Dist LEXIS 159432 (D. Or. Nov. 7, 2013) Plaintiff Jennifer Shepherd was a child protective services (CPS) caseworker for the Oregon Dept. of Human Services (DHS). She investigated reports of child abuse and made recommendations…
Court Upholds Doocing For Snarky Facebook Post — Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart, 2013 U.S. App. 19345 (5th Cir. Sept. 19, 2013) [
Federal Court Doesn’t ‘Like” Service of Process via Facebook — Joe Hand Proms. v. Carrette
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. v. Carrette, 12-2633-CM (D. Kan. July 9, 2013) People have mused about the inevitability of service of process via Facebook, but a recent decision shows that it may not be so quick…
Emotional Distress Claim Doesn’t Support Fishing Expedition for Social Media Evidence
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Giacchetto v. Patchogue-Medford Union Free School Dist., 2013 U.S. Dist LEXIS 83341 CV 11-6323 (ADS)(AKT) (E.D.N.Y. May 6, 2013) This is another discovery dispute over social media content. Plaintiff was a long-time elementary school teacher and…
JDate Member Agreement Upheld–Zaltz v. JDate (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Lisa Zaltz v. JDate, 2013 WL 3369073 (E.D.N.Y. July 8, 2013). Lisa Zaltz is a former member of JDate (a property of Spark Networks). She is unhappy with JDate for a laundry list of reasons (I had a…