ZL Technologies, Inc. v. Does 1-7

Before a court may order a website to produce identifying information about an anonymous poster of information on the website, the plaintiff must establish a prima facie case, including, in a defamation case, proof of falsity of the posting’s allegedly defamatory statements.  Following Krinsky v. Doe 6, 159 Cal. App.  4th 1154 (2008), in part,…

Filmon.com v. DoubleVerify, Inc.

Plaintiff could not sue defendant for defamation after defendant rated plaintiff’s website as carrying adult content and copyright-infringing material, since these ratings addressed matters of public interest and were therefore protected by the Anti-SLAPP statute.  DoubleVerify sends ratings of websites to its subscribers.  DoubleVerify’s confidential reports tagged Filmon’s website as one carrying adult content and…

Charney v. Standard General, L.P.

Employer’s Anti-SLAPP motion was properly granted in response to terminated CEO’s defamation claim, since the allegedly defamatory press release stated only that a third party investigation of allegations against the CEO had been undertaken and that he was terminated as a result of that investigation.  A terminated CEO failed to establish he had a probability…

Kimzey v. Yelp!, Inc.

The Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230) shielded Yelp! from liability for an allegedly defamatory review of plaintiff’s business as plaintiff alleged no facts to support his speculation that Yelp! rather than a customer wrote the review.  Plaintiff’s defamation complaint against Yelp! for running a bad review of plaintiff’s locksmith business is dismissed under the…

Doe 2 v. Superior Court

To discover the identity of a person who posted an anonymous Internet comment, plaintiff must present prima facie evidence of all elements of a defamation claim; here, plaintiff fell short as the comment was non-actionable opinion, not defamatory fact.  Under Krinsky v. Doe 6 (2008) 159 Cal.App.4th 1154, before a defamation plaintiff may obtain discovery…

Manzari v. Associated Newspapers, Ltd.

Popular soft-porn star adduced prima facie proof that in publishing her picture with an article about HIV in the L.A. porn industry the defendant  news website edited her picture and its caption, making it more likely that the article would imply plaintiff had HIV, thus overcoming defendant’s Anti-SLAPP motion in her defamation suit.  This decision…

Santos v. Kisco Senior Living, LLC

A mandated reporter of elder abuse is immune from liability for having filed an affidavit in support of a citizen’s arrest of a worker suspected of having stolen property from nursing home residents.  Welf. & Inst. Code 15634 broadly immunizes mandated reporters of elder abuse from liability for their reports.  This decision holds that a…

Hassell v. Bird

Since a court has the power to enter orders against non-parties to keep them from nullifying the effect of an injunction against a defendant, Yelp! could not successfully challenge a default judgment finding defendant’s negative reviews of plaintiff were defamatory and ordering Yelp!, a third party, to remove these reviews.  P sued D, claiming D…