Author Archives: Paul Levy

Philadelphia Ruling Outing Anonymous Critic Who Called Plaintiff a Pedophile

by Paul Alan Levy I heard last week from another lawyer in a Doe case that I am currently litigating about an order from a Philadelphia trial judge, requiring Philly.com, the web site of Philadelphia’s two daily newspapers, to disclose the identifying information of a commenter who, according to the story, had called the head […]

What does A-1 Exterminating not want its potential customers to learn about?

by Paul Alan Levy This week Public Citizen became involved in a case pending in a trial court in Alabama, in which a lawyer is handling both a mass action and a class action against an exterminating company named A-1 Exterminating and its affiliates.  Plaintiffs allege that A-1 both provides bad services and fraudulently advertising […]

Med Express (Medical Specialists) Explanation for Suing Customers Gets Stranger

by Paul Alan Levy Late last month, we went to trial on a motion for sanctions against Med Express, the company that received widespread condemnation last year for suing two eBay customers who had the temerity to leave truthful but negative or even neutral feedback. You may recall that, after two Ohio lawyers stepped forward […]

Dietz v. Perez: Virginia Jury Finds Both Sides at Fault, Awards No Damages

A  bit over a year ago, I discussed on this blog a petition that we filed in the Virginia Supreme Court seeking to set aside a preliminary injunction issued by a state trial judge in a defamation suit filed by a Maryland contractor, Christopher Dietz, against a Virginia woman, Jane Perez, who had posted reviews […]

Virginia Appellate Court Rejects Dendrite / Cahill Approach to Online Anonymity

by Paul Alan Levy In a decision issued yesterday morning, the Virginia Court of Appeals parted company with appellate decisions in eleven other states and held that the First Amendment allows a court to compel the identification of a company’s anonymous online critics even though the company has done no more than claim that it […]

Michigan Court of Appeals Again Protects Anonymous Criticism

by Paul Alan Levy A decision yesterday by a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals shows that First Amendment protections, and particularly protection for online anonymity, is alive and well in Michigan.  Ruling in Ghanam v. Doe, the Court held that when discovery is sought to identify anonymous defendants so that they can be […]

Accessories Store: A Nondisparagement Clause Even Worse than Kleargear

by Paul Alan Levy     In the wake of recent coverage of an attempt by the online trinket company Kleargear.com to ruin the credit of a customer whose wife complained about Kleargear’s failure to send an order of Christmas gifts, in violation of a non-disparagement clause inserted into later versions of the online sales contract, […]