Programmes Internationaux D'Echanges (P.I.E.), a French nonprofit that organizes student exchange programs, filed suit against Danielle Grijalva, director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students (CSFES), over emails and postings on CSFES's website that criticized the organization's handling of students. P.I.E.'s complaint asserted claims of defamation, civil conspiracy, interference with contract, and interference with business relationships. The suit also named as a defendant Veronica Beddick, a former employee of ASSE International, a nonprofit that assisted in student placements, alleging that she provided confidential information to Grijalva and assisted in the disputed acts.

In emails and postings to the CSFES website, Grijalva allegedly accused the plaintiff organizations of numerous wrondoings related to their treatment of foreign exchange students. According to the complaint and other court filings, the accusations included that the organizations failed to place students in schools, failed to place students in permanent homes, placed students in homes with felons, and otherwise violated laws that regulate foreign exchange programs.

According to press reports, Grijalva has said that she sent an email to the father of a foreign exchange student at the student's request but that she has not engaged in any "mass effort" to contact students, their families, or host families.

P.I.E.'s complaint included a request for a temporary restraining order against Grijalva and Beddick. On September 21, 2007, the court granted the request, ordering the defendants to cease communicating with P.I.E. students as well as the students' familes, host familes, and educational institutions. The temporary restraining order, by its terms, expired after 10 days unless the court renewed it.

On Dec. 12, 2007, the court granted a preliminary injunction against Grijalva that reiterated the prohibition on direct communication with students and others involved with the plaintiffs and further ordered her to refrain from disseminating false or misleading information about the plaintiff organizations via email or her website.

On May 30, 2008, the court granted a near-identical preliminary injunction against Grijalva brought by P.I.E. associates (and plaintiff-intervenors) ASSE and World Heritage, Inc.

Jan Kruska sued several anti-pedophile organizations, including Perverted Justice Foundation, Inc. ("PJFI"), and individuals affliliated with those organizations, as well as domain registrar GoDaddy.com and social networking site MySpace.com, after the organizations accused Kruska of being a predator, a pedophile, and pro-pedophile on various websites, including JanKruska.com and JanKruska.net. Kruska sued for defamation, copyright infringement, cyberstalking and harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ("RICO") Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") in Arizona federal court.

In August 2007, self-described journalist Kruska began to receive what she described as "venomous" emails after she criticized the overbreadth of anti-pedophile laws. Soon after, the Absolute Zero United blog and PJFI's Wikisposure and Corporate Sex Offender websites posted accusations that Kruska was a convicted child molester and a pedophile, according to the complaint. The defendants allegedly posted similar accusations on MySpace.com, as well as on websitesJanKruska.com and JanKruska.net, both of which were registered byFilmax.com through GoDaddy.com. Some of the websites also allegedly posted personal information about Kruska, including her address, and photographs of Kruska that she says are copyrighted. In addition, Barbara Ochoa, aka Petra Luna, allegedly organized a protest targeting publishers of Kruska's writing, which Kruska said resulted in her articles being taken down. Further, Ochoa allegedly emailed Kruska, demanding Kruska remove her "entire web presence" or else face a "full scale activist attack" against her.

Kruska filed her complaint in January 2008. It sought damages and a preliminary injunction, barring thedefendants from "disseminating claims that [Kruska] is a 'Predator', 'Child Molester', 'Child Abuser', 'Pedophile', and 'Pro-Pedophile' bypostings on the internet, mass mailings, e-mails to friends, relatives,employers, business associates, among others; or otherwise by any othermeans making such suggestions."

In response, GoDaddy.com, Ochoa, and PJFI all moved to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds. In April 2008, Kruska voluntarily dropped her claims against MySpace.com. In June 2008, the court granted Ochoa's motion to dismiss, but gave leave to Kruska to amend her complaint against Ochoa, which she did. In July 2008, the court granted GoDaddy.com's motion to dismiss on the ground that CDA 230 precluded liability. The court also seems to have dismissed trademark claims against GoDaddy on CDA 230 grounds, which Eric Goldman notes is unusual.

Update

6/12/2009 - The court denied  Butler's new motion for summary judgment pending discovery.

8/7/2009 - Kruska moved for summary judgment on her copyright infringement claims against Von Erck and PJF.  She claimed any arguments for fair use failed as a matter of law.

8/28/2009 - Von Erck and PJF answered Kruska's complaint with affirmative defenses including a First Amendment defense, fair use, lack of damages, and a lack of personal jurisdiction.

9/22/2009 - The court denied Brocious' motion to dismiss Kruska's amended complaint.  

10/13/2009 - The court denied Kruska's motion for summary judgment on her copyright claims pending discovery.

11/18/2010 - Court issued order granting in part and denying in part Christopher Brocious' Motion to Dismiss and denying Brocious' Motion for Summary Judgment. 

Diane Fremgen, the clerk of courts for Winnebago County, Wisconsin, sued online forum FullofBologna.com; its operator, Dennis Payne; Studio 28, Payne's web design company; and a John Doe known as Mr. Imperfect for defamation after Mr. Imperfect posted two lewd criticisms of Fremgen on FullofBologna.com.  Fremgen, suing in Wisconsin state court, also sought a temporary injunction to force Payne to take down the website and remove the offending comments.

The court immediately granted Fremgen's ex parte request for a temporary injunction, and ordered the forum shut down on March 30, 2006.  As a result, Payne settled and agreed to reveal Mr. Imperfect's IP address and to remove all posts that referenced Fremgen by name.

On February 8th, 2005, Georgia Community Support and Solutions (GCSS), a non-profit organization that provides assistance to disabled adults and their families, filed a lawsuit against Shirley Berryhill for defamation and tortious interference with business relations over statements she made on a website for families of disabled adults and in emails to employees of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

According to court documents, GCSS placed Ms. Berryhill's mentally handicapped son with providers of personal care. Subsequently, Ms. Berryhill allegedly made statements in web postings and emails asserting that her son was suffering from poor treatment and care. GCSS sent Berryhill a cease-and-desist letter regarding the statements (see our database entry) and, after Berryhill refused to retract and apologize for the statements she made, the organization filed suit in Georgia state court.

Ms. Berryhill filed a motion to strike the complaint pursuant to Georgia's anti-SLAPP statute (GA. Code Ann. § 9-11-11.1(b), and the trial court granted the motion. The court concluded that Berryhill's statements satisfied the threshold requirement of the anti-SLAPP statute because they were made in furtherance of her right to free speech about an issue of public concern.

The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's decision, ruling that the anti-SLAPP statute only protects statements made in connection with  official government proceedings. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court's decision, concluding that Ms. Berryhill's speech and acts did not fall within the scope of Georgia's anti-SLAPP statute.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, and the Atlanta Press Club filed an amicus brief in support of Ms. Berryhill.

We have not determined what happened in the litigation following the Georgia Supreme Court's 2006 decision.