Of passing interest:
Don't ask Gary Dobry or David Shepard what they think of Talk Visual
Corp. or its chairman, Michael J. Zwebner. They aren't allowed to tell you.
As part of a settlement reached last week,
the two men, who had been sued by Mr.
Zwebner for posting "false and defamatory"
statements on Internet message boards,
agreed to never again speak publicly about
Talk Visual (www.talkvisual.com) or Mr. Zwebner or face a fine of $1
million.
Mr. Dobry, 35 years old, runs a boxing gym in Palatine, Ill. He says he
decided to settle because he didn't want to face a prolonged legal fight in
New Hampshire, where the case was filed.
Mr. Shepard of Lake in the Hills, Ill., couldn't be reached.
Mr. Dobry says Mr. Shepard runs the gym's Web site, and Mr. Shepard's
credit card was used to open the account under which Mr. Dobry posted the
allegedly defamatory messages. The pair's lawyer, Gregory Martucci, says
his clients "have agreed to keep their mouths shut."
The settlement offers a glimpse of how corporate suits filed against online
critics sometimes get resolved. At least 80 cases have been filed by
companies claiming that they or their managers were defamed on Internet
message boards. Legal experts say few ever get to trial, in large part
because most individual defendants settle out of court because they can't
afford to take on a company in court.
Megan Gray, a Los Angeles lawyer who defends clients named in cases
involving libel on the Internet, says the confidential nature of these
settlements makes it impossible to determine how many suits have been
resolved this way. But she says such agreements are what companies are
aiming for when they sue their online critics, even though virtually all ask for
monetary damages when filing suit. "The whole point of these suits to is
silence people," she says.
Companies, however, generally say they file suit against anonymous
message-board posters to defend their reputations. To ignore malicious
postings, they say, is to at least tacitly acknowledge they are true.
Mr. Zwebner is known as a hard-liner with his online critics. He has filed
three such suits against them so far, which is believed to be more than any
other executive. In addition to the case that recently settled, another suit is
pending in state court in Massachusetts. An earlier case, also filed in New
Hampshire, also was settled out of court.
Mr. Zwebner announced his settlement with Messrs. Dobry and Shepard by
issuing a press release July 13 with the headline: "Talk Visual Chairman
Wins $1 Million Judgment Against Libelous Internet Poster." He said in the
release that closure of the case "confirms to the public at large the real true
facts, the truth, as I have always claimed it to be." Mr. Zwebner didn't return
a call Thursday.
But the press release was misleading because, in fact, Talk Visual hasn't
won any money yet. Messrs. Dobry and Shepard won't pay $1 million unless
a court determines they violated the terms of their settlement.
The settlement requires the two "will not discuss Zwebner or Talk Visual ...
with anyone, irrespective of whether such discussion is disparaging or not
disparaging." If either is asked about Mr. Zwebner or Talk Visual, they are
required to respond: "Pursuant to an agreement, I cannot discuss this topic."
If asked about the agreement, they may not elaborate. "The matter has been
settled and closed," is the required response.
The settlement also required the two defendants to issue a public apology,
which was included in Mr. Zwebner's press release. The settlement doesn't
involve a third person named in the suit, Ramon Silvestre of Hayward, Calif.
Mr. Silvestre couldn't be reached.
Mr. Zwebner's case stems from postings Messrs. Dobry and Shepard made
on the stock-chat site Silicon Investor (www.siliconinvestor.com) concerning
DCI Telecommunications, Stratford, Conn., and on Raging Bull
(www.ragingbull.com) regarding Legacy Software, which is now known as
Talk Visual.
Mr. Zwebner was a shareholder in DCI after selling his British phone-card
marketing firm to the company in February 1997, according to the suit.
In October 1998, when DCI was looking for a buyer or additional investors,
Mr. Zwebner alleged that Messrs. Dobry and Shepard "disseminated lies" on
Silicon Investor by posting anonymously authored messages accusing Mr.
Zwebner and his brother of selling short stock in DCI and saying the
Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Bureau of Investigation
were investigating. (Short sellers profit from falling stock prices by selling
borrowed stock. They then hope to repay the loan by buying stock later at a
lower price.)
In court papers, Mr. Zwebner denied ever short selling the stock and said
there was "absolutely no investigation" by the SEC or FBI concerning his
actions with DCI.
The online attacks resumed in April on Raging Bull, according to the suit. By
this time, Mr. Zwebner was chairman of Legacy Software, which has since
changed its name to Talk Visual. Based in Miami, Talk Visual says it
develops video-teleconferencing equipment.
Mr. Zwebner says Mr. Dobry, who posted under the aliases "Captin
Crunch" and "FBN Annihilatr," accused him of "intimidating investors with
scare tactics" and falsely called him a "notorious penny stock promoter doing
shady deals from European boiler rooms."
Mr. Zwebner, a British citizen, said in his suit that the cumulative effect of
the postings has been "anguish and emotional distress" as well as a "loss of
faith" by investors in Talk Visual, thereby causing a "substantial drop" in its
stock price. Since April 18, the date Mr. Dobry resumed his online campaign
against Mr. Zwebner, according to court documents, Talk Visual's stock has
slipped from 1 7/32 to about 9/16 Thursday on the OTC Bulletin Board.
There may be other reasons behind the sluggish performance of Talk
Visual's stock. According to its most recent financial statements, the
company posted a loss of $780,000 for the quarter ending March 31 on
revenue of $342,000.
Although the company describes itself in press releases as a "pioneer in the
video teleconferencing industry," only $26,000 of its revenue came from
selling telecommunication services and software. The other $316,000 was
derived from renting out property in Toronto and Sacramento, Calif. |
