Online Liability Blog™

Apparently the folks at Xcentric won’t be able to celebrate their recent victory for very long. Yesterday J. Paul Ottis - allegedly “well known throughout the entertainment complex” - filed a forty-four page verified complaint in Nebraska federal court against Xcentric Ventures LLC, its manager Edward Magedson, the company’s attorney Maria Crimi Speth, Ms. Speth’s Arizona law firm Jaburg and Wilk PC, and Does 1-10 (who allegedly served as agents of each of the other defendants).

Plaintiff alleges defamation, defamation per se, interference with business relationships, business disparagement, civil conspiracy, and RICO violations. He also claims that the defendants are not immunized by Section 230 because “Magedson creates and authors the content he places on his web sites.” Plaintiff further asserts that “[o]n information and belief, Defendants create most of the content of the reports for the purposes of posting them on the RipoffReport webpage. These reports are not provided by third party consumers but by the defendants themselves.” Perhaps we’ll see some limited discovery in this one.

Plaintiff seeks treble damages and permanent injunctive relief, including an order barring defendants from “publishing false, misleading, disparaging and/or defamatory words and comments” relating to plaintiff, requiring defendants to remove “false, misleading disparaging and/or defamatory words and comments” relating to plaintiff, including his confidential IP and trade secrets, and prohibiting further postings relating to plaintiff without first providing him the opportunity to respond privately. And there’s more (check out the complaint).

It’s probably safe to say that plaintiff’s counsel, if he hasn’t already, is on his way to Judge Urbom’s chambers to press for the ex parte TRO requested in the complaint. Xcentric will presumably be gearing up for another fight. Stay tuned.