Re: 8/17/00 - [USAV/CPXP] ComputerXpress.com Wins First Round in Libel Suit
ComputerXpress.com Wins First Round in Libel Suit
Thu Aug 17 14:44:00 EDT 2000
BERMUDA DUNES, Calif., Aug 17, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- ComputerXpress.com, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CPXP) (www.ComputerXpress.com) announced today that the company won the first round of their legal battle against persons alleged to have posted libelous statements about the company on the Internet bulletin board Raging Bull.
The Company's attorney, Henry Welles of Best Best & Krieger, LLP successfully opposed the defendants' motion to dismiss the lawsuit as a "SLAPP" suit.
California law provides defendants may bring a motion under the Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) statute where the lawsuit is designed to chill free speech and is without merit.
The Honorable Eric Michael Kaiser denied the defendants' motion to strike under the SLAPP statue, indicating this lawsuit did not fall under the statute.
"We are very pleased with the ruling. We were confident that defendants would not be successful in this tactical motion," said Company President Frank Scivally "We will continue to defend our legal rights and have instructed our attorney to vigorously do so."
ComputerXpress filed the lawsuit on March 30, 2000, seeking $10 million in actual damages and an undisclosed amount of punitive damages against Lee Jackson, Barbara Jackson, Tom Mitchell, Doran Mitchell, John Fecteau, Paul Graham, and Wendy Graham, in Riverside County California , Case No. RIC341013. The Complaint alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation, negligence, trade libel, tortious interference with contractual relations, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, abuse of process, conspiracy, and injunctive relief. The Grahams have settled with ComputerXpress and are no longer defendants in the lawsuit.
ComputerXpress.com, Inc. is an Internet e-commerce and "business to business" Company, specializing in the sale of computers and computer related equipment to professionals, such as Realtors, Doctors and Lawyers, as well as other individuals via the internet. This press release may contain forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements contained herein. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, changes in the performance of the financial markets, changes in the demand for and market acceptance of the Company's products and services, changes in the mortgage and Internet industry, and the impact of competition, and other risks disclosed from time to time in the Company's regulatory reports and filings.
SOURCE ComputerXpress.com, Inc.
CONTACT: Skip Nordstrom of National Investors Council, 714-963-7547
URL: computerxpress.com
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