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 with the company started after he filed a claim for disability benefits in 2006.  According to the complaint, Delsman was unhappy with the way in which Sedgwick handled his claims, and began a campaign of harassment which allegedly included:

• Hosting pictures of Sedgwick's CEO and COO on his website and blog, which "morph[ed] . . . into images of Adolph Hitler and Heinrich Himmler," and posting a similar video to YouTube
• Referring to Sedgwick and its employees as "Sedgthugs"
• Unjustly accusing Sedgwick of engaging in criminal behavior on his website and in emails
• "Operation Going Postcard," in which Delsman sent postcards to Sedgwick offices, employees, customers and outside insurance agencies in multiple states.  These postcards allegedly contained copyrighted images of Sedgwick's CEO and COO and an image of a human skull containing Sedgwick's trademark in the eye sockets, along with "defamatory, false and libelous statements against Sedgwick.

(Compl. ¶¶ 12-13.)  Sedgwick sought damages, fees, and an injunction preventing Delsman from sending offensive emails or postcards and further defaming or libeling Sedgwick, and requiring him to remove all of Sedgwick's copyrighted material from his website and blog and to destroy all Sedgwick's copyrighted material in his possession.

Delsman, who is representing himself pro se, has filed a motion for summary judgment.  The court has yet to rule on his motion.

UPDATE:

07/17/2009- The court construed Delsman's motion for summary judgment as a motion to dismiss and granted the motion.  The court held that the copyright claim failed because Delsman's use of Sedgwick photographs was fair use.  The court dismissed the remaining claims under California's anti-SLAPP statute.

12/16/2009- Sedgwick filed its opening brief on appeal.

01/29/2010 - Delsman filed its response brief.

03/01/2010 - Sedgwick filed its reply brief.

03/21/2011 - In an unpublished, two-page opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's ruling.

874.11  Electronic communication.--Any person who, for the purpose of benefiting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a criminal gang, uses electronic communication to intimidate or harass other persons, or to advertise his or her presence in the community, including, but not limited to, such activities as distributing, selling, transmitting, or posting on the Internet any audio, video, or still image of criminal activity, commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

Violators face a maximum of five years in prison.  The three defendants were arrested in November 2008, along with 12 others.  "Richard Figueroa-Santiago, 22, and Elvis Rodriguez, 30, are accused of posting pictures of themselves making gang hand signals and wearing colors associated with the Latin Kings," according to the Naples Daily News. 

Lawyers for Figueroa-Santiago and Rodriguez filed motions to dismiss the case, arguing that the statute violates the First Amendment.  Judge Ramiro Mañalich heard arguments on the motions on August 4, 2009, and reserved decision.  The third defendant, Obduella David Soto, did not file a motion to dismiss.

Update:

9/2009 - Soto joins in the motions to dismiss.

1/8/2010 - Judge Mañalich denies the motions to dismiss.

1/12/2010 -  Soto pleads no lo contendre to the charges against him.

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 were three university students active in Republican politics: Dennis Lennox, Bradley Dennis, and Anthony Giammarinaro.  According to the Michigan Messenger, the allegedly defamatory edits accused Grebner of being a homosexual and of having been convicted of sexually abusing children. One defendant also allegedly inserted a picture of Osama bin Laden into the entry with the caption “One of Grebner’s biggest supporters in the 2004 election.”  Wikipedia removed the edits in question.

After discovery, the case was referred to mediation where the claims against all three defendants were resolved. According to the docket, the complaint against Dennis was dismissed without prejudice and without costs on March 19, 2010. Ultimately, the trial court entered a stipulation and order for entry of judgment regarding the remaining claims against Lennox and Giammarianaro on Feb, 25, 2011 when, according to a report on a local political blog, Lennox agreed to pay Grebner $1,500.

The case was closed on March 11, 2011.

On May 27, 2003, former South Dakota Senator James G. Abourezk filed a defamation suit against Michael Marino, one of the co-owners of ProBush.com, a website that "offered unconditional support of the 43rd US President, George W. Bush," based on Abourezk's inclusion in the “Traitor List” posted on site.  Abourezk claims that calling him a traitor “is libelous per se under South Dakota law as it accuses the Plaintiff of a criminal act he did not commit.”  (Compl. ¶ 13.)  He is seeking actual damages of $2 million, punitive damages of $3 million, the removal of all references to him on ProBush.com, and a public apology.  (Compl. 4.) 

On April 29, 2005, Abourezk filed an amended complaint that include Jane Fonda and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz as co-plaintiffs, and Ben Marino, the other co-owner of ProBush.com, as a co-defendant.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss based upon a failure to state a claim, asserting that their speech is protected by the First Amendment, arguing that including Abourezk on the “Traitor List” “does not qualify as a form of verifiable, literal falsehood that could lead anyone to believe that the website was stating a concrete, objective fact about [Abourezk].”  (Memo in Support of Motion to Dismiss 18–19.)  This motion was denied on March 14, 2004 by Chief Judge Lawrence L. Piersol. 

The defendants also filed a motion for summary judgment.  According to Todd Epp, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, this motion was also denied.  The plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of liability.  Before this motion could be ruled on, however, the case was settled and dismissed with prejudice on November 23, 2005.  According to one of ProBush.com's lawyers, as reported by The Associated Press, the settlement amount was $1.

Anthony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, sued Twitter after an unknown Twitter user created an account at twitter.com/TonyLaRussa and pretended to post updates as La Russa. The fake Twitter page included La Russa's photo and a handful of vulgar and apparently Cardinals-related updates. One line of the "profile" suggested it was all a fake: "Bio Parodies are fun for everyone."

La Russa's complaint alleged that the fake Twitter page constituted trademark infringement and dilution, cybersquatting, and misappropriation of name and likeness.  According to the San Francisco Chronicle, La Russa's attorney tried to contact Twitter before filing the lawsuit, but got no response. Hours after the lawsuit was filed, Twitter removed the fake La Russa page and its postings. 

UPDATE: 

6/5/2009 - Twitter removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  STLToday.com reported that the parties had settled, citing La Russa as the source of the information.

6/6/2009 - Twitter denied reports that it had settled the lawsuit.

6/26/09 - La Russa filed a notice of voluntary dismissal after the parties settled the case.

On May 5, 2009, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster sent a letter to craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster threatening company management with "criminal investigation and prosecution" over the website's erotic services section, as well as "the unrestricted manner in which graphic pornographic pictures are posted and displayed by users on the craigslist site and their accessibility to minors."  The letter demanded that craigslist permanently remove those portions of the site "containing categories for and functions allowing for the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material" by May 15, 2009. 

Buckmaster posted a response on the craigslist blog, stating that, while the company looks forward to speaking with Mr. McMaster about his concerns, it "see[s] no legal basis whatsoever for filing a lawsuit against craigslist or its principals and hope[s] that the Attorney General will realize this upon further reflection." 

Update:

5/12/2009 - After conferring with other state AGs, craigslist voluntarily dropped its "erotic services" section and said it would replace it with a new "adult services" category that will be manually reviewed by Craigslist staff.

5/15/2009 - South Carolina AG McMaster announced that he had "no alternative but to move forward with criminal investigation and potential prosecution" because the website "continues to display advertisements for prostitution and graphic pornographic material."

5/20/09 - Craigslist filed a lawsuit against McMaster in South Carolina federal court, seeking a declaration that its conduct is lawful and an injunction prohibiting McMaster from making further threats of prosecution and pursuing any such prosecution.

5/22/09- McMaster agreed to entry of a temporary restraining order pending a ruling on the merits of craigslist's claims.  He will refrain from "initiating or pursuing any prosecution against craigslist or its officers and employees in relation to content posted by third parties on craigslist's website."

On May 24, 2005, Cecilia Barnes filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! for negligently failing to remove unauthorized profiles from its Yahoo! Profiles website.  The profiles were created by Barnes' ex-boyfriend, and contained nude photos of Barnes and her work contact information.  According to the complaint, on March 29, 2005, Yahoo! contacted Barnes and assured her that they would put an end to the unauthorized profiles.  However, the complaint alleges that she continued to be harrassed by strange men.  Barnes claims that when Yahoo! contacted her, they undertook an affirmative duty of care under Oregon law, and this duty was violated when they failed to remove the profiles and prohibit them from being posted again.

On June 23, 2005, Yahoo! removed the case from the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for the District of Multnomah to the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.  On November 8, 2005, the district court granted Yahoo!'s motion to dismiss the case, finding that 47 U.S.C. §230 immunizes interactive service providers, such as Yahoo!, from liability for failure to screen or remove third-party content.  The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in the case on October 14, 2008.

Update:

05/07/2009 - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's order dismissing the case.  The appellate court determined that Barnes' allegations might support a claim for promissory estoppel and held that section 230 would not preempt this claim.

05/21/09 - Yahoo! filed a petition for rehearing.  An amicus coalition consisting of Public  Citizen, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Citizen Media Law Project, and EFF filed a motion for leave to file an amicus brief supporting Yahoo!'s petition.

06/22/09 - The Ninth Circuit amended its opinion to remove section II of the opinion and to revise footnote 4.  The court denied Yahoo!'s and Barnes' requests for rehearing or rehearing en banc.

12/08/09 - The district court denied Yahoo!'s motion to dismiss Barnes' promissory estoppel claim.

Cyd Duffin, principal of Colony High School in Palmer, Alaska sued MySpace, Inc. and John Doe defendants for defamation and invasion of privacy over the posting of a fake MySpace profile, which falsely depicted her "as a drug-using racist with a sexually transmitted disease who insults disabled students and likes books about pornography, anarchy and the Ku Klux Klan," according to the Anchorage Daily News.  The Anchorage Daily News also reported that Duffin dismissed MySpace from the case after the company agreed to cooperate by turning over records related to the creation of the fake profile.  

UPDATE:

7/14/2009 - Duffin dismissed the suit after two students confessed to authoring the fake profile. Though the two students were punished, Duffin did not disclose the severity of their punishment.