LIBEL AND RELATED LAWSUITS AGAINST BLOGGERS

Compiled by MLRC Staff Attorney Eric P. Robinson

Last Update: August 10, 2006

This list, which is an outgrowth of the Pre-Dinner Symposium on Blogging held on Nov. 9, 2005, includes legal cases that MLRC is aware of in which bloggers have been sued for libel and related claims, including two cases against bloggers that have gone to trial and resulted in a liability verdict. It also includes criminal cases against bloggers in Ohio.

Note that this list includes only cases that were actually filed in a United States court; threats to file lawsuits are not included.  This list does not include lawsuits outside of the United States.

The list is also limited to cases based on the content of blogs, which leads to the question, what is a blog?  While various commentators have different answers, for our purposes a blog is a web site that is created by and features periodic postings (comments, links, etc.) by an individual or a small group of contributors, usually on a specific topic or theme.  Blogs differ from forums, which are generally maintained by an operator who generally does not regularly contribute material to the site, but maintains and edits a forum that is open to postings from anyone.  (If the person or people contributing material is also the editor(s), it is more likely a blog than a forum.  For more on this distinction, see wikipedia.)  The timing of updates can vary, but must not be so infrequent that the site is more properly classified as a static web site.  Admittedly, this definition leads to a sort of “you know it when you see it” quality.  But given the shifting nature of the web technology and its uses, this is simply the best we’ve been able to come up with for now.

Cases are listed by forum jurisdiction.

Other sources:

• Committee to Protect Bloggers
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Media Bloggers Association

California: Apple Computer, Inc. v. DePlume, No. 05-CV-33341 (Cal. Super. Santa Clara County  filed Jan. 4, 2005)
Status: Pending
In addition to the Doe case below, Apple is also pursuing a separate lawsuit in California against the 19-year-old operator of the Boston-based website "Think Secret" (www.thinksecret.com) and various anonymous entities for allegedly publishing trade secrets on that website. 
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,66213,00.html
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/4970/Teen+Sued+For+Disclosing+Apple's+Secrets
Case docket: http://www.sccaseinfo.org/pa5.asp?full_case_number=1-05-CV-033341

California: Apple Computer, Inc. v. Doe , No. 1-04-CV-032178 (Cal. Super. Mar. 11, 2005), appeal pending sub. nom. O'Grady, et al. v. Superior Court of Santa Clara County , Case No. H028579 (Cal. App. 6th Dist. May 26, 2006).
Status: Dismissed
In Dec. 2004, Apple Computer, Inc., filed suit against numerous unknown entities in connection with the leak of confidential information prior to the release of an Apple product codenamed "Asteroid."  The information, which Apple claims are trade secrets, was posted on a number of websites, including AppleInsider (www.appleinsider.com) and PowerPage (www.powerpage.org). In the course of discovery, Apple subpoenaed Nfox, the e-mail service provider for PowerPage, seeking e-mail messages that could identify the source(s) of the leaked information.
The trial court ruled that Apple is entitled to subpoena an e-mail provider to try and identify the source(s), but declined to determine whether the bloggers qualified as journalists under the California shield law.  But the Court of Appeals reversed, holding that bloggers and webmasters have the same protections against divulging confidential sources as tradional media.  In July 2006, Apple announced hat it would not appeal the ruling.
http://www.eff.org/Censorship/Apple_v_Does/
Cal. App. decision at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/H028579.PDF

California: Cohen v. Ford, No. 00-CV-5966 (C.D. Cal. dismissed Feb. 21, 2001)
Status: Dropped
In 1998, Gary Kremen sued Stephen Michael Cohen, alleging that he had fraudulently obtained the sex.com domain name owned by Kremen by forging a letter to Network Solutions in 1995, asking for transfer of ownership of the URL.  (That suit eventually ended with a $65 million award to Kremen, and restoration of control of the domain, although the judgment has not been collected.)  While that case was pending, in 2000 Cohen sued Luke Ford over coverage of the sex.com lawsuit on his lukeford.com porn-industry blog.  But the case was dropped by the plaintiff in 2001.

California: Holmes v. Ford, No. BC221609 (Cal. Super. defense motion for summary judgment granted Oct. 31, 2000).
Status: Summary Judgment Granted
Porn actress Laurie Holmes, the widow of porn actor John Holmes, sued webmaster Luke Ford over comments posted on his lukeford.com porn-industry blog in 1999.  The comments were statements made by John Holmes’ manager, Bill Amerson, in a film documentary entitled "Wadd: The Life and Times of John Holmes."  In October 2000, the court granted Luke’s motion for summary judgment, and awarded him costs.
Case noted in http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39297,00.html

California: Lake v. Ford, No. SC059805 (Cal. Super. dismissed Jan. 18, 2001).
Status: Dismissed
Porn actress Christy Lake sued porn-industry blog lukeford.com owner Luke Ford after he posted pictures that he described as showing her having sex with a dog.  The case was eventually dismissed.
Case noted in http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39297,00.html

California: News America, Inc. v. Google, Inc., No. 05-MC-80179 (N.D. Cal. filed Aug. 4, 2005).
Status: No Recent Action
News Corp. subsidiary News America, publisher of the New York Post, subpoenaed Google to try to find the identity of a blogger who was posting the Post’s "Page 6" daily gossip column in total, except for the advertising.  There has been no further action in the case, although the site (http://page6blog.blogspot.com/) has been removed.
http://www.adrants.com/2005/06/adfree-gawker-and-page-six-blogs.php
NY Post letter to Google: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/notice.cgi?NoticeID=2121

California: The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. v. Cooper, No. RG05-203029.(Cal. Super. filed 2005).
Status: No Recent Action
In July 2004, Elisa D. Cooper discovered that internal, technical computer information available on a public web site maintained for computer maintenance purposes by her former employer, Kaiser Health Plan, included patient information.  She posted a link to the data on her blog, Corporate Ethics (http://www.livejournal.com/users/corphq/), and later posted the information itself.  She also filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights, which enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  That office, in turn, notified Kaiser, which sought and eventually received a preliminary injunction against Cooper’s posting of the material, arguing that her dissemination of it violated the confidentiality agreement that Cooper signed while working for the company.  The California Department of Managed Health Care then ordered Cooper to remove the material -- its first action against an individual, rather than a health plan, since the agency’s founding in 2000. The agency also fined Kaiser $200,000 for posting the patient data to a publicly-accessible site.
http://www.blogherald.com/2005/03/18/kaiser-permanente-sues-blogger-over-patient-information/

California: Wald v. Ford, No. SC086263 (Cal. Super., L.A. County  filed May 19, 2005)
Status: Default verdict for plaintiff; motion to set aside default pending
Jeff Ward, who manages the careers of various entertainers including George Carlin, George Forman and Donna Summer, sued owner Luke Ford and various unnamed contributors to the lukeford.net porn-industry blog for allegedly libelous comments about Ward on the site.  Ford did not respond to the suit, and was held in default on Oct. 10, 2005.  Ford has since filed a motion to set aside the default judgment, which was scheduled to be heard on March 22, 2006.
Case documents (including complaint, motion to set aside default): http://www.lukeford.net/Images/photos3/WaldFord.doc

Connecticut: Bell v. Shah, Civil No. 05-0671 (D. Conn. filed April 27, 2005).
Status: Transferred to S.D. Fla. (March 31, 2006). Bell v. Shah, Civil No. 06-21063 (transferred April 28, 2006).
Plaintiff Joel Bell, who serves as a manager for several professional sports players, sued a writer for the the website draftcity.com (which closed when the legal action was threatened) for items on the site disparaging Bell.  Ruling on a motion to dismiss, the federal court in Connecticut held that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a Florida resident, even though the website was set up and registered by a one-time Connecticut resident.  The federal court in Connecticut moved the case to the federal court in southern Florida, where it is currently pending.
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=379483&view=next&sid=e9b32f008e98909a27989cb35a3f1f98

Delaware: Doe v. Cahill, No. 266, 2005, 2005 WL 2455266, 2005 Del. LEXIS 381 (Del. decided Oct. 6, 2005)
Status: Dismissed
The Delaware Supreme Court on Oct. 6 reversed a lower court's decision ordering an ISP to reveal the identity of anonymous posters to a blog operated by the Delaware State News (http://www.newszapforums.com/forum47).  Smyrna, Del. town councilman Patrick Cahill and his wife are suing the posters and the newspaper for libel over the posted comments.
The court held that in order to obtain the identities, Cahill had to meet the standard applied for summary judgment, and had to present sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case for each essential element of libel.  It then ruled that the plaintiffs had not met the burden in this case, and thus reversed the lower court's ruling.  After a discussion of the nature and reliability of blog postings, the court also dismissed the libel claims, since the statements "were no more than unfounded and unconvincing opinion."
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/%5Cnews.aspx?id=15890
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/technology/06blog.html
Decision: http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/(ck3ywyzv4ghputn02pdfiy34)/download.aspx?ID=67130

District of Columbia: Steinbach v. Cutler, Civil No.  05-00970 (D.D.C. filed May 16, 2005).
Status: Motion to dismiss denied (April 4, 2006).
In May 2004, Captial Hill aide Jessica Culter published a  pseudonymous blog (http://washingtonienne.blogspot.com; no longer existent, but archived at http://washingtoniennearchive.blogspot.com/) detailing her sexual escapades, identifying several men only by their initials.  Cutler's blog became a widespread story after it was publicizied on another blog, wonkette.com, and Cutler was fired.  Robert Steinbach filed suit on May 18, 2005, saying that he was one of the men whose initials were given in the blog, but that other identifying information was included.  Ruling on a motion to dismiss, the court held that the one-year statute of limitations on in the District of Columbia applied, and that this barred claims for all but one of the blog postings.
http://www.calicocat.com/jessica_cutler_washingtonienne.htm
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/robert-steinbuch/index.php
Complaint at http://files.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/torts/steinbuchvcutler51805cmp.pdf

Florida: Bell v. Shah, Civil No. 06-21063 (transferred from D. Conn. April 28, 2006).
Status: Pending
Plaintiff Joel Bell, who serves as a manager for several professional sports players, sued a writer for the the website draftcity.com (which closed when the legal action was threatened) for items on the site disparaging Bell.  Ruling on a motion to dismiss, the federal court in Connecticut held that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant, a Florida resident, even though the website was set up and registered by a one-time Connecticut resident.  The federal court in Connecticut moved the case to the federal court in southern Florida, where it is currently pending.
http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=379483&view=next&sid=e9b32f008e98909a27989cb35a3f1f98

Florida: Hunt v. Patten, No. 2006 CA 002857 SC (Fla. Cir. Ct., Sarasota County  filed March 29, 2006).
Status: Pending.
Former Venice, Fla. city manager sued veniceflorida.com writer John Patten, alleging that Patten helped spread lies about him that led him to be fired from the Venice, Fla. position and have kept him from getting a similar job elsewhere.
http://www.venicegondolier.com/NewsArchive3/033106/tp1vn6.htm

Florida: Johnson v. Tucker Max, No 2003 CA 004867 (Fla. Cir. Ct. filed May 2, 2003); Civil No. 03-80515 (S.D. Fla. dismissed July 2003).
Status: Dimissed by plaintiff
Plaintiff, formerly Miss Vermont and Miss Vermont U.S.A., sued over postings on the tuckermax.com blog in which the author recounted his alleged sexual exploits with her.  Initially, a Florida state court judge issued a temporary injunction against continued availability of the postings.  After the injunction was lifted, the case was removed to federal court .  The plaintiff then voluntarily dismissed the case.
http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/entries/the_almost_banned_miss_vermont_story.phtml
http://maroon.uchicago.edu/news/articles/2003/05/16/college_graduate_tuc.php
Initial complaint: http://www.tuckermax.com/images/Complaint%20for%20Injunctive%20Relief%20and%20Damages.PDF

Florida: Lexington Homes, Inc. v. Siskind, No. 2004-CA01018 (Fla. Cir. Ct., Pinellas/Pasco County  dismissed March 2006).
Status: Dismissed; motion for reconsideration pending.
A housing developer sued the creator a web site (www.bad-lexingtonhomesinc.net) that criticized the quality of its homes, saying that it led to decreased sales.  The court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds, since the defendants are not Florida residents (they live in New York, but own property in Florida).  The company has filed a motion asking the court to reconsider its decision.
http://www.legaline.com/2006/03/florida-court-dismisses-web-defamation.html
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/01/Hernando/Builder_sues_man_for_.shtml
Legal documents and rulings at http://www.bad-lexingtonhomesinc.net/pages/5/index.htm

Georgia: Banks v. Milum, No. _____ (Ga. Super. Ct. verdict for plaintiff  Jan. 27, 2006)
Status: $50,000 verdict for plaintiff
NOTE: This is the first case against a blogger of which MLRC is aware that has gone to trial and resulted in a liability verdict.
Attorney Rafe Banks III sued political activist David Milum for statements made on his website on local politics in Forsyth County, Georgia, aboutforsyth.com.  Several postings on the site alleged that Banks had delivered bribes from drug dealers to a now-deceased judge.  After a four-day trial and six hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Banks $50,000 in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.  Banks had sought between $400,000 and $2 million in damages.  After the verdict, Milum said that someone else was taking over the web site.  He also said that he may appeal.
http://www.forsythnews.com/news/stories/20060129/localnews/61856.shtml

Georgia: Goodens v. Milum, No. _____ (Ga. Super. Ct.  filed March 2005)
Status: Pending
David Milum is also being sued by former county employee Joseph Gooden for other comments on the aboutforsyth.com web site.  The case, which seeks $2 million in damages, is pending.

Georgia: Fisher & Phillips, LLP v. Doe, Civil No. 05-01719 (N.D. Ga. dismissed Nov. 10, 2005)
Status: Dismissed
Atlanta-based employment law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP sued five "John Does," claiming they published "false and malicious communications" about the firm on the Internet. (The complaint did not identify the web sites at issue.)  The firm agreed to dismissal of the case after the court cited it for failure to effectuate service of process.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2005/07/18/newscolumn2.html?from_rss=1

Illinois: Emmanuel Welch v. Nyberg, No. 2005L009751 (Ill. Cir. Ct. dismissed Dec. 5, 2005); Bill Welch v. Nyberg, No. 2005L009752 (Ill. Cir. Ct. dismissed Dec. 5, 2005).
Status: Dismissed
Emanuel “Chris” Welch, president of the District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools) school board, and his brother Bill Welch filed suit against blogger Carl Nyberg after Nyberg filed an ethics complaint against Emanuel Welch over his vote in Aug. 2005 to hire Bill Welch as a school custodian.  Besides being his brother, Emanuel Welch represented Bill Welch when he was indicted on drug possession charges in 2003 (the charges were eventually dropped).  The ethics complaint alleges that Emanuel Welch did not disclose this representation when voting on his brother's employment.  The Welches responded with a libel suit based on postings on Nyberg’s blog (provisoprobe.blogspot.com) about the ethics complaint and the drug charges, as well as a letter that Nyberg sent to the head of Emanuel Welch’s law firm.  In Late November, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss the case without prejudice.
http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=38&ArticleID=631&TM=63543.2
http://provisoprobe.blogspot.com/2005/09/welch-brothers-file-suit-against.html
http://provisoprobe.blogspot.com/2005/12/defam-welch-suits-dismissed-without.html
http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=38&ArticleID=839&TM=3636.928

Maine: The Gentle Wind Project v. Garvey, Civil No. 04-103 (D. Me. summary judgment granted, case dismissed Jan. 3, 2006).
Status: Dismissed
The Gentle Wind Project, which describes itself as “not-for-profit world healing organization with a remarkable healing technology,” sued critics who called the organization a cult for libel and other claims, including alleged violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) law.  On a motion by the defendants, the federal district court granted summary judgment on the RICO claim.  Since this claim was the only basis for federal jurisdiction, the court then dismissed the entire case.  But it could be refiled in state court.
mentioned in http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1136838328818

Maine: Warren Kremer Paino Advertising v. Dutson, Civil No. 06-047 (D.Me. dismissed May 5, 2006).
Status: Dismissed
An advertising agency responsible for online advertising for Maine tourism sued the Maine Web Report blog (http://www.mainewebreport.com), which criticized the ads and the selection of the agency,   for defamation, libel, and copyright infringement.  The agency dropped the suit after it was criticized on various blogs.
http://www.mainewebreport.com/2006/04/27/state-contractor-files-federal-lawsuit-against-me/
http://www.mainewebreport.com/2006/05/05/warren-kremer-paino-withdraws-lawsuit/
Complaint available at http://www.mainewebreport.com/Complaint.pdf

Minnesota: Olson v. Brodkorb, No. ______ (Minn. Dist. Ct., Dakota County  filed Jan. 4, 2005).
Status: Pending
Democratic public relations consultant Blois Olson has sued Republican operative Michael Broadkorb, the blogger behind the site Minnesota Democrats Exposed (www.minnesotademocratsexposed.com), for libel.  The suit stems from a report in late December posted on the blog by Broadkorb, who published the blog anonymously from July 2004 until he revealed his name when the lawsuit was filed.  The post claimed that while Olson publicly criticized the Congressional campaign of Coleen Rowley in several news stories, Olsen did not reveal that the campaign had declined to hire his consulting firm.
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=16262

Mississippi: Moore v. O'Bannon, No. _____ (Miss. Cir. Ct.  filed March 2006).
Status: Pending
Jackson, Miss. minister Rev. Ronald K. Moore and his wife are suing Valerie O'Bannon, a Jackson native now living in Minnesota, over a web site she launched in January 2006 which claims that she and Moore had a five-month affair.  In February, Moore won an order from a Mississippi Chancery Court judge ordering O'Bannon to take down the site, and tried to have her jailed for contempt when she did not remove the site. But the Chancery judge held that the matter belonged in Circuit Court, and Moore filed suit in that court shortly thereafter.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/NEWS/603280383/1002/NEWS01

Nevada: Software Development and Investment of Nevada, d/b/a Traffic-Power.com v. Wall, Civil N. 05-1109 (D. Nev. dismissed Feb. 13, 2006).
Status: Dismissed
In this case, an Internet marketing company sued the owner of a blog on search engine optimization (www.seobook.com) for libel and publication of trade secrets. The suit, which also names several posters to the blog as defendants, was removed from state to federal court, then dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Grant of motion to dismiss: http://www.seobook.com/decision-on-motions.pdf
Complaint and commentary from plaintiff: http://www.seobook.com/archives/001130.shtml 
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112541909221726743-Kl4kLxv0wSbjqrkXg_DieY3c8lg_20050930,00.html
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=13715&hed=Bloggers+Face+the+Law
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05277/582101.stm
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/46326.html

New Jersey: Landmark Education LLC v. The Rick A. Ross Institute of New Jersey, Civil No. 04-3022 (D. N.J. case dropped Dec. 28, 2005).
Status: Dropped
Landmark Education, which describes itself as “a leader and innovator in the field of training and development,” sued   Acult de-programmer@ Rick Ross over statements on his website challenging the organization’s legitimacy, and his refusal to post Landmark’s response.  But Landmark dropped its case after a New Jersey appeals court ruled in Donato v. Moldrow, 374 N.J. Super. 475 (App. Div. 2005) that a website operator is immune for suit for anonymous postings on the site, under section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act.
http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000777.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051221/nyw149.html?.v=36
mentioned in http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1136838328818

New York: Choy v. Boyne, No. 115577/2005 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., New York County  dismissed April 8, 2006).
Status: Dismissed
James Boyne set up a web site about a doctor from whom his wife had won a malpractice settlement; the doctor sued for libel.  The court dismissed the case.

New York: Citywide Sewer & Drain Service Corp. v. Carusone, No. 05-018160 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.  filed Nov. 14, 2005).
Status: Pending.
On Oct. 13, 2005, WPIX-TV in New York broadcast a consumer report focused on complaints against Citywide Sewer & Drain Service Corp.  The next day, defendant Angelo Carusone – whose father had worked for the company, and himself had had a summer job there – posted an item titled “Citywide really is shitywide” on his blog (www.angelocarusone.com), which repeated the allegations of the WPIX report.  The company sued Carusone and his father for libel.  A motion for summary judgment is pending.
http://www.angelocarusone.com/?p=102
Complaint: http://www.angelocarusone.com/files/1Complaint.pdf
Defendant’s motion for summary judgment: http://www.angelocarusone.com/files/4MotionSummaryJudgment.pdf

New York: NXIVM Corporation and First Principles, Inc. v. The Ross Institute, Civil No. 03-CV-976, 2003 WL 22298756 (N.D.N.Y. order Sept. 9, 2003), aff’d,   No. 03-7952, 364 F.3d 471 (2d Cir. April 20, 2004), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 1000 (U.S. Nov 29, 2004).
Status: Pending
The organization NXIVM, which provides an expensive training program called “Executive Success" and requires participants to sign a non-disclosure agreement, sued a "cult de-programmer" and two writers who authored and posted on the Internet a report on plaintiff’s program using quotes from their copyrighted seminar manual.  The defendants posted the material, which they obtained from a former seminar participant, on their web site.
The federal district court denied a preliminary injunction barring the defendants from using the materials.  The appeals court agreed, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision.  The case is now proceeding in discovery.
mentioned in http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1136838328818

New York: Penn Warranty Corp. v. DiGiovanni, Index No. 600659/04 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. County dismissed Oct. 24, 2005).
Status: Dismissed
The court dismissed a libel suit against a New Jersey man for his 45-page Web site (www.pennwarrantylitigation.com, now inactive) detailing his gripes against car insurer, holding that the comments on the site were protected free speech and did not constitute defamation.
http://biz.yahoo.com/law/051101/09ff0649ee5c88176d85f611a15b84b2.html?.v=1
http://news.findlaw.com/andrews/bt/ebl/20051107/20051107pennwarranty.html
Decision: http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/fcas/fcas_docs/2005oct/30060065920045sciv.pdf

New York: Sollami v. Sheppard, 21 A.D.3d 408, 799 N.Y.S.2d 427, 2005 N.Y. Slip Op. 06311 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.,  App. Div. Aug. 8, 2005).
Status: Pending
In August, the Appellate Division reversed a trial court ruling dismissing former Cornwall Supervisor Jim Sollami's defamation case against Tom Sheppard, who publishes the blog Cornball-local.com.  The appeals court held that eight of the statements at issue in the case were capable of defamatory meaning and should proceed to trial.
Decision and order available at http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2005/2005_06311.htm
Coverage: http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/08/12/blogthis.htm

North Dakota: Wagner v. Miskin, 660 N.W.2d 593, 2003 ND 69 (N.D. May 6, 2003), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 1154 (2004).
Status: $3 million verdict for plaintiff affirmed
(NOTE: Although this award predates the award in Banks v. Milum, supra, this case involves a more traditonal web site, not what is traditionally referred to a a blog)
Former University of North Dakota student Glenda Miskin created a website, undnews.com, that criticized the university and its professors.   Miskin was suspended from the university in 1990 after an internal disciplinary committee found that she had stalked UND physics professor John L. Wagner.  But the site alleged that Wagner had harassed Miskin with sexually provocative phone calls.  Wagner sued, and won $2 million for libel, $500,000 for slander, and $500,000 for interference with his business relationships.  The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld the award, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Ohio v. Baumgartner, No. CR-05-470184-A (Ohio C.P. Ct., Cuyahoga County  indictment Aug. 30, 2005); Ohio v. DuBois No. CR-05-470184-B (Ohio C.P. Ct., Cuyahoga County  indictment Aug. 30, 2005)
Status: Pending against Baumgartner; Charges against DuBois dismissed pursuant to plea bargain (see below)
Two Internet bloggers were jailed in July on charges related to their allegedly posting material critical of a judge on the blog www.erievoices.com and allegedly sending him intimidating e-mails.
Elsebeth Baumgartner of Oak Harbor, Ohio and Bryan DuBois of Sandusky, Ohio allegedly used their site to libel and harass retired Cuyahoga County Judge Richard Markus, who had presided over a libel lawsuit based on letters that Baumgartner, a former attorney who was disbarred in 2003, sent to a school board member.  That trial ended with a $175,000 verdict against Baumgartner.  In April 2004, Judge Markus also declared Baumgartner a “vexatious litigator” under Ohio law.  
Baumgartner’s case has missed three trial dates. On Nov. 14, 2005, trial judge Shirley Strickland Saffold ordered her sent back to jail for three days after Baumgartner said that she would be renewing her motion to have Saffold removed from the case.  On Dec. 12, Baumgartner presented a note from her doctor that she was not competent to stand trial, and Saffold ordered her admitted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation.   On June 1, 2006, Baumgartner was again found in contempt and jailed. 
The trial is now scheduled to begin July 10, 2006.
In March 2006 DuBois plead guilty to separate charges against him in Ottowa County, and agreed to testify against Baumgartner in her trial,. 
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/NEWS01/603280303  
http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=14346&sid=38099&bw= (video)
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050927/NEWS01/509270301/1002
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051214/NEWS01/512140306/1002
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/060206BaumgartnerJailed.html
http://mp3.rbnlive.com/Greg/0603/20060329_Wed_Greg1.mp3 (audio)

Ohio v. DuBoisNo. CR-05-_______ (Ohio C.P. Ct., Ottawa County  indictment July 12, 2005)
Status: Plea bargain
Besides his indictment in Cuyahoga County (see above), erievoices.com webmaster Bryan Dubois was also indicted in Ottawa County on charges of intimidation and retaliation against one of the witnesses against Baumgartner in the original libel lawsuit. On March 27, Dubois agreed to plead guilty and testify against Elsebeth Baumgartner in her criminal trial, scheduled for May 2005.  As part of the deal, Dubois formally apologized, and was sentenced to probation in the Ottawa County case, with the charges against him in Cuyahoga County dismissed.
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/NEWS01/603280303   http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050722/NEWS01/50722002/1002
http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051212/NEWS01/512120302/1002

Ohio: Suarez Corp. v. Meeks, Civil No. 267513 (Ct. of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio  settled Aug. 1994).
Status: Settled
Journalist Brock Meeks criticized a company promoting e-mail marketing in his e-mail newsletter (now defunct, but archived online at http://cyberwerks.com/cyberwire/).  Benjamin Suarez, owner of the company, Suarez Corp. Industries, sued for libel.  But before the case went to trial, Suarez offered to settle for $64; Meeks accepted.
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/?f=meeks_case.info
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/defamation-in-cyberspace.html

Pennsylvania: Deon v. McMonagle, No. 2005-08774 (Pa. C.P., Bucks County  filed Dec. 8, 2005).
Status: Pending
Pasquale T. Deon Sr., who serves as chairman of the Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, filed suit against Middletown, Pa. Supervisor Robert McMonagle for comments on his blog website middletown-news.net.
http://middletown-news.net/news/20051210DeonLibel.html

Pennsylvania:  Dimeo v. Tucker Max, Civil No. 06-1544 (E.D. Pa.  dismissed May 26, 2006), appeal filed, No. 06-3171 (3rd Cir. filed June 28, 2006).
Status: Dismissed; Appeal pending.
A federal judge dismissed party promoter Anthony DiMeo III's lawsuit over comments posted in message board area of the tuckermax.com website regarding a New Year's Eve party that he organized.  DiMeo has appealed.
http://blogs.philly.com/blinq/2006/05/tucker_max_may_.html
http://messageboard.tuckermax.com/showthread.php?t=9804
Decision at http://www.myelectionanalysis.com/web-content/Images/Max_Motion_To_Dismiss.pdf
NOTE: This case involves a bulletin board, not the blog itself.  But it is included because the site was primarily a blog.

Pennsylvania: D'Alonzo v. Truscello, April Term, 2004 No. 0274, 2006 WL 1768091 (Pa. C.P., Pa.Com.Pl., dismissed May 31, 2006).
Status: Dismissed
Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Fumo sued the owner of the (now defunct) web site dumpfumo.com after she posted to her site the verbatium text of an article from the Philadelphia Daily News, which he alleged was libelous.  The motion judge granted defendant's motion to dismiss on the grounds that the suit was barred by section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act; the Common Pleas judge agreed and affirmed.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1149843924785
Case docket at http://fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_frames?case_id=040400274

Pennsylvania: Melvin v. Doe, No. G.D. 99-10264 (Pa. C.P., Alleghany County 2000).
Status: Dismissed by plaintiff
Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin sued the anonymous author of the w