Libel

From Goddard v. Interserver.Net, decided yesterday by Judge Evelyn Padin (D.N.J.): Plaintiff is a California-based technology professional …. Plaintiff is also Jewish. The crux of Plaintiff’s Complaint is that Defendants, through the website spotlighthate.com, “host, maintain, and refuse to remove [information] that falsely portrays Plaintiff as an anti-Muslim bigot and falsely attributes numerous inflammatory statements […]

The decision, by Judge Roy Altman (S.D. Fla.) is Monday’s Block v. Matesic; for more on the plaintiff judge (Judge Frederick Block (E.D.N.Y.)), see this N.Y. Times article, also from Monday. The original libel claim has to do with the plaintiff judge’s battles related to his Florida condominium association board, of all things. A few […]

From Judge Corey Maze (N.D. Ala.) yesterday in Garmon v. Google LLC (note that, though plaintiff is pro se, he is a lawyer, and indeed had represented Senate candidate and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore): Trenton Garmon filed his third complaint against Google LLC and asks the court to enjoin Google and award him […]

First, some backstory, from a decision in March by Judge Jessica Clarke (S.D.N.Y.) in eShares, Inc. v. Talton allowing Talton to proceed on his defamation claim: According to Talton, in December 2022, he was terminated by Carta [also called eShares] and [Carta’s CEO] Ward for opposing Carta and Ward’s discrimination toward women …. One week […]

From last Friday’s Appellate Court of Illinois decision in Sebaggala v. Levinson, written by Justice Celia Gamrath and joined by Justices Sanjay Tailor and Michael Hyman: According to the operative complaint, Sebaggala is a Black fourth-grade public-school teacher and a member of Abolition Coalition, a group of citizens who “support and advocate for diversity and […]

So concludes Guobadia v. Williams, decided Mar. 31 by Judge Mark Cohen (N.D. Ga.): Plaintiff is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who currently resides in the United Arab Emirates, and is the founder and CEO of SIMCOL Group, an investment company involved in various industries, including energy and hospitality…. Defendant is known for her role on […]

The opinion (132 pages long) by Judge Lewis Liman (S.D.N.Y.) is here; the court also rejects the Baldoni side’s civil extortion, breach of contract, false light, promissory fraud, and breach of contract claims. The opinion is too long to summarize here, but the key arguments that the court accepted as to the defamation claims are: […]