Rep. Devin Nunes Loses Right of Publicity Claim Against @DevinBull (?)
In Nunes v. Meredith, decided today by Judge Jennifer Thurston (E.D. Cal.), Congressman Devin Nunes sued Ben Paul Meredith for common law misappropriation and stalking, based on “Meredith’s purported pattern of public, negative commentary about Nunes and his political career.” The facts:
Nunes has received criticism from many individuals for his political positions and actions taken pursuant to his role in national politics. He has also filed a myriad of lawsuits across the country in attempts to stop this criticism. His lawsuit against Meredith seeks similar relief and makes broad allegations that Meredith used multiple Twitter accounts to harass and stalk Nunes. Nunes did not submit copies of these posts, nor did he identify the accounts, which he contends Meredith manages as part of his alleged scheme to stalk and harass Nunes.
According to Nunes, Meredith is a sophisticated artificial intelligence data scientist who co-founded a technology company, which creates and delivers artificial intelligence solutions. Nunes further contends that Meredith used this “extensive experience” to launch a campaign of harassment on Twitter, designed “to embarrass Plaintiff, to make Plaintiff’s life miserable, and to instill fear in Plaintiff and others.” Specifically, Nunes makes the following allegations regarding Meredith’s conduct:
- Operates multiple “anonymous Twitter accounts in a scheme to follow, alarm and harass” Nunes
- Coordinated with “violent third partiers”
- “Doxed” Nunes’s locations “dozens of times”
- “[T]weeted and retweeted thousands of false, threatening, hateful, riotous, profanity-laced, salacious and scandalous statements about Plaintiff” (emphasis in original)
- Accused Nunes of various state and federal crimes
- Used “derogatory, insulting and threatening hashtags within tweets”
- “[T]hreatened Plaintiff’s life and threated to come after Plaintiff”
- Used Nunes’s name, photograph, and likeness to sell merchandise and to conduct “professional fundraising” with Meredith’s social media posts
Nunes did not provide any examples of this alleged digital speech with his complaint. With his opposition to the anti-SLAPP motion, Nunes included a website screenshot which states that a woman named Michelle Emmett is responsible for the @devincow Twitter account that was used to “troll Nunes” (i.e., to post Tweets about Nunes). Nunes also provided
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