This story was referenced on the Morons thread. Is this about anyone here?
Total Renal Sues Internet Users, Alleges Misleading Postings
Torrance, California, Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Total Renal Care Holdings Inc., the world's second-largest dialysis services provider, sued four anonymous Internet users, joining a growing number of companies trying to combat misinformation on the Web.
Total Renal and its former chairman and chief executive, Victor M.G. Chaltiel, filed the lawsuit in a California state court in Los Angeles asking for a retraction and public apology from the defendants. The Torrance, California-based company alleges the four, known only by Internet pseudonyms, placed false and misleading information about the company on a Yahoo! Inc. message board.
Total Renal joins other companies that are suing to stop the posting of misleading information on boards maintained by Yahoo and on Go2Net Inc.'s Silicon Investor Web site. Total Renal's shares have fallen 71 percent this year and in recent months the company has become a favorite for short-sellers, or investors who try to profit from a decline in a stock price.
The lawsuit alleges defendants INSIDER_EYE, ALLWHIP, BAYNEPHRON13847 and MD1493 posted false or defamatory messages for the purpose of manipulating the stock. It cited examples of INSIDER_EYE writing ''I want to buy back in but I feel there is something fishy. Cooking the Books, Over billing. And to think the least of there (sic) problems is the SEC issue.''
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