To: Land Shark who wrote (2278 ) 1/1/1999 10:17:00 PM From: Annette Respond to of 122087
The Yahoo posters should REALLY watch what they say...this was from todays Milwaukee Journal Sentinel... Firm sues man over Internet claims American Medical Security claims New Berlin man defamed it on Yahoo! By Kathleen Ostrander Special to the Journal Sentinel January 01, 1999 Janesville -- A New Berlin man allegedly posted derogatory messages about Green Bay-based American Medical Security Inc. on Internet bulletin boards, according to a lawsuit the firm filed in Rock County Circuit Court. The suit alleging that the firm was defamed and its business hurt named Mark Poklar of New Berlin as the defendant. An earlier version of the suit had named Jane, John and James Doe as defendants. Poklar's attorney could not be reached for comment. Reached at home in New Berlin, Poklar said he had no comment. His attorney has until mid-January to file an answer to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Howard Pollack, one of the attorneys representing American Medical, said Yahoo!, the Internet provider that ran the bulletin boards on which the alleged defamatory messages were posted, gave the name of Mark Poklar when it was subpoenaed. "They (Yahoo!) have no liability here," Pollack said. "This doesn't fall under First Amendment protection for them. We got a court order and they complied." Pollack and his co-counsel, Tom Basting of Janesville, said this is the first suit of its kind that they have handled. According to the amended lawsuit, Poklar, using the names of "misterclutch," "sam the sham," "sam and the shams" and "AMS ee" posted messages disparaging the financial status of the company, as well as its management, assets, sales and marketing network. In one of the messages, "AMS ee" claimed to be an employee of the company and made derogatory remarks about company management. Pollack declined to say whether Poklar works or worked for American Medical Securities. Corporate communications representatives of the company did not return calls.of the company did not return calls. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------