***************TO ALL, FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY***************
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Info on Lawsuits recently filed against persons doing malicious injury to companies--The SEC, as per quote below, may also involved itself in such cases based on the theory that it is an attempt to manipulate the stock price:
"SAN DIEGO, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- ZiaSun Technologies Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ZSUN - news; ziasun.com) announced today that the company has filed a lawsuit against eight individuals, alleging that their postings on the Internet bulletin board, Silicon Investor, contained defamatory statements intended to manipulate the company's share price. ZiaSun filed the case in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Silicon Investor, operated by Go2Net, is not named as a defendant. Although similar in nature, the lawsuit is unrelated to that recently filed by ZiaSun in Florida against Financialweb.com. Both suits are part of the company's ongoing policy not to tolerate the dissemination of defamatory information on the Internet regarding the company, its officers, directors or shareholders. For more information please contact Investor Relations at (800) 773-7317. ''Safe Harbor'' statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news release that may be considered forward-looking statements could be subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected. These include uncertainties in the market, competition, legal, success of marketing efforts and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports. The company assumes no obligation to update the information in this release
Monday June 14, 1:24 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release Hitsgalore.com Files $20 Million Lawsuit Against Internet Posters RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 1999-- Hitsgalore.com, Inc. (OTC BB:HITT - news) today announced that it has filed a Complaint against one identified and five anonymous Internet posters for Libel, Tortious Interference With Business Relations and Civil Conspiracy in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The Complaint, entitled Hitsgalore.com, Inc. v. Janice Shell, et al., Case No. 99-1387-CIV-T-26C, seeks damages in excess of Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000.00). The Complaint names Janice Shell, John Doe No. 1 a/k/a ''Paul Kersey,'' John Doe No. 2 a/k/a ''Mayor,'' John Doe No. 3 a/k/a ''Mr. Pink,'' John Doe No. 4 a/k/a ''mshater,'' and John Doe Nos. 5-100 as Defendants (collectively the ''Defendants''). The Complaint alleges that, beginning at least as early as May 1999 and continuing through to the present, the Defendants intentionally and maliciously published and republished a variety of false and defamatory statements about Hitsgalore.com in a nationwide ''cybersmear'' campaign on electronic bulletin boards on the Internet maintained by Raging Bull, Inc. (''Raging Bull'') and Silicon Investor, Inc. (''Silicon Investor''). These statements either explicitly state or imply that Hitsgalore has engaged in illegitimate, illegal, dishonest, fraudulent, and criminal business operations, when, in truth and fact, the Defendants knew or should have known that such statements were false and libelous per se. Steve Bradford, the CEO of Hitsgalore.com, believes that it is absolutely essential that all responsible parties be held fully accountable for their activities, and this action is the first formal step for Hitsgalore.com in taking the offensive against those seeking to destroy the reputation, damage the market value of the Company's common stock and undermine the business affairs of the Company through anonymous posting activity. Steve Bradford stated that: ''the Company intends to issue subpoenas to Raging Bull and Silicon Investor to ascertain the identities of the John Doe Defendants, and to aggressively undertake discovery in this case.'' The Company's attorneys are also investigating possible defamation charges against David Evans, a Bloomberg reporter, for certain negative news articles which the Company believes are misleading in nature. Jeanette Wilcher, the Trustee of The Life Foundation Trust with whom the Company has various business relations, stated that: ''I applaud, commend, and fully support the efforts of Hitsgalore.com in bringing the anonymous Internet posters to justice.'' The Company would also like to gratefully acknowledge the substantial assistance it has received from various persons throughout the country in investigating the Internet activity by the Defendants and others, and welcomes further contact from individuals with knowledge of this cybersmear campaign. If you have any information which you believe would be helpful to the Company in prosecuting this matter, please contact Carl F. Schoeppl, Esq., or Daniel J. Becka, Esq., at Schoeppl & Burke, P.A., the Company's litigation counsel, 4800 North Federal Highway, Suite 210-A, Boca Raton, Florida 33431-5176, Telephone: (561) 394-8301, Facsimile: (561) 393-6541, and E-Mail:
Schoeppl@aol.com. Brokerage files Net defamation suit By Bloomberg NewsSpecial to CNET News.comMay 20, 1999, 1:10 p.m. PT
WASHINGTON--The M.H. Meyerson brokerage is suing several Internet users on allegations they posted defamatory messages about the company in an attempt to drive down its stock.
The messages, by unnamed individuals using aliases such as "TheDaytrader2000" and "j454545j," accused the brokerage's chief executive, Martin H. Meyerson, of stock manipulation, inside trading, and money laundering, copies of the Internet messages show. The suit also names Yahoo, alleging the top Internet search service failed to remove offensive messages from one of its message boards when asked to do so.
The Securities and Exchange Commission wouldn't comment on Meyerson's allegations, though the agency is investigating other similar allegations of possible stock manipulation by users of Internet chat rooms and message boards, said John Reed Stark, head of the SEC's Internet enforcement unit.
"Anytime you spread false information on the Internet, driving the stock up or down, it raises serious questions of possible market manipulation," Stark said in an interview.
Wednesday July 28 2:46 PM ET
Lilly Industries Sues Anonymous Internet Critics
By Emily Kaiser
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Industrial coatings maker Lilly Industries Inc. (NYSE:LI - news) said Wednesday it sued five people, claiming they anonymously posted defamatory comments about the company and its executives on an Internet message board.
Indianapolis-based Lilly Industries joined a growing list of companies who have taken action against people who post derogatory remarks about them on the Internet.
John Elbin, a spokesman for Lilly Industries, declined to comment further on the lawsuit.
Lilly Industries and one of its executives, Lawrence Dalton, filed the suit in Indiana, alleging that five ''John Does'' posted defamatory statements about the company and its executives. Dalton is the target of negative comments in some of the Internet messages.
The lawsuit asks the court to force the defendants to stop posting defamatory statements and seeks unspecified compensatory damages.
Lilly Industries' share price has fallen by about $1.20 since the Internet messages started heating up in mid-June. The stock was off 6 cents at $17.88 in midday New York Stock Exchange trading.
Internet postings have been a contentious issue for several publicly traded companies that claim to have been defamed by anonymous messages posted on services such as online portal Yahoo! Inc., which has thousands of message boards for discussion of publicly traded companies.
A spokeswoman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Yahoo said the company complies with validly issued subpoenas seeking the identity of anonymous message posters, but would not confirm or deny whether it had received subpoenas from Lilly Industries.
Banking software maker Phoenix International Ltd. Inc. said this month that it filed a civil complaint in Florida against a former employee the company thinks is responsible for negative message board postings.
Leading U.S. turf grass seed maker AgriBioTech Inc. said last August that negative messages about it and its executives sent its shares tumbling more than 20 percent.
The chief executive of ImaginOn Inc. (Nasdaq:IMON - news) even posted his own message on a chat room last month, quashing an Internet rumor that his company was involved in a possible transaction with America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) .
In the Lilly Industries messages, posters identified only by screen names such as ''thebigbubba69'' and ''wolrahds'' and claiming to be Lilly Industries employees, complained about working conditions, stock performance, and the..."
Thanks to poster from OMDA post # 18712
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Elio |
