DontDate Web site sued for defamation

UPI ^ | 30JUN06 | UPI

[familyop]

MIAMI, June 30 (UPI) -- A lawyer has sued a Florida-based Web site claiming he was defamed on Don'tDateHimGirl.com.

The site allows women to vent about ex-boyfriends and spouses and, presumably, to warn others about their exes' nasty habits. But Todd Hollis of Pittsburgh says his former girlfriend published false and malicious information about his health and sexual habits.

"When you have to explain to someone that you don't have herpes or that you are not a dog or that these accusations are malicious and false it really bothers you," Hollis told the Miami Herald. "You feel awkward when you are walking up and down the street. You don't know whether the whole world knows about it, or if someone is looking at you in a different light because of it."

Tasha Joseph, who founded the site, argues that she is protected by the Communication Decency Act, the newspaper said.

"Internet service providers such as myself aren't responsible for the third party postings of our users, because it's not me defaming Todd Harris, but the woman accusing him of cheating on them," Joseph said.

[familyop]

...another feminist effort to separate men from employers?

[familyop]

Ping.

[jiggyboy]

Nope. Pure hate, nothing else.

[SandyInSeattle]

He should be suing her, not the web site.

[Jaysun]

I wonder if this guy injects himself with estrogen or wears lipstick? Stop being a womanish crybaby! Suck it up and be a man!

[SmithL]

More here from the AP: Man Sues Over Web Site Comments

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

It seems to me that he's being as manly as the law allows. Why should anyone simply "suck it up" when being defamed? He can't fight back physically without landing jail -- and he still wouldn't have cleared his name.

[Hildy]

Boston Legal did a show on this kind of thing. It was very fair. The guy ended up winning. It portrayed the owner of the website as a nasty, bitter woman.

[ladyjane]

Apparently two women have posted that he is bad news. He's a lawyer too. Three strikes.

[saleman]

"You feel awkward when you are walking up and down the street. You don't know whether the whole world knows about it, or if someone is looking at you in a different light because of it."

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean no ones out to get you!

You'd have to know a lawyer would come up with this drivil. Wonder what he thinks the Judge is saying about him?

[Jaysun]

It seems to me that he's being as manly as the law allows. Why should anyone simply "suck it up" when being defamed? He can't fight back physically without landing jail -- and he still wouldn't have cleared his name.

Give me a break. A men ignore this sort of nonsense. He sounds like a prepubescent girl trying to get even with another prepubescent girl for calling her "fatty" on the playground. He needs to move on.

[Locke_Lomond]

Oh PLEASE. "Suck it up and be a man"? In what bizarro world does letting your reputation and character be dragged through the mud by some malicious whore mean you're "being a man"?

Sheesh.

[Jaysun]

It seems to me that he's being as manly as the law allows. Why should anyone simply "suck it up" when being defamed? He can't fight back physically without landing jail -- and he still wouldn't have cleared his name.

Give me a break. Men ignore this sort of nonsense. He sounds like a prepubescent girl trying to get even with another prepubescent girl for calling her "fatty" on the playground. He needs to move on.

[Truth-The Anti Spin]

Hehe. It's only defamation and libel if it's demonstrably untrue.

[Locke_Lomond]

You sound like the average feminazi -- rip and tear and men 24/7, and then claim they're sissies for not standing there and taking it? A man strikes back. He doesn't let people push him around -- news flash, man, letting the world make you its personal punching bag is NOT manly.

[Jaysun]

Oh PLEASE. "Suck it up and be a man"? In what bizarro world does letting your reputation and character be dragged through the mud by some malicious whore mean you're "being a man"? Sheesh.

Oh PLEASE my ass. Everyone has apparently turned into a bunch of damned crybabies.

[mysterio]

Shouldn't he be suing the person who made the statement rather than the medium over which the statement was made?

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Put yourself in his place. Imagine if a local website said the following about "Jaysun"
* frequents gay bars;
* active member of the Communist Party;
* dated Helen Thomas;
* wears a thong;
* likes to eat tofu ...

At what point would you stop "sucking it up" and try to put an end to the defamation?

[Jaysun]

You sound like the average feminazi -- rip and tear and men 24/7, and then claim they're sissies for not standing there and taking it? A man strikes back. He doesn't let people push him around -- news flash, man, letting the world make you its personal punching bag is NOT manly.

Then sue - it's the milquetoast thing to do. People can't get away with hurting someone else's feelings or saying mean things about them - true or not. It's.....it's just not fair, dammit.

[saleman]

Um, In My World?

I've been married 3 times. Married 11 years to the 3rd and last. Still see the ex'es on occasion. I live in a small town. You should hear what these dingbats say about me after about 2 drinks too many!

Haven't sued yet.

[Jaysun]

Okay. I'll leave it alone.

[Billthedrill]

I do NOT like tofu!

[MPJackal]

"Jaysun"
* frequents gay bars;
* active member of the Communist Party;
* dated Helen Thomas;
* wears a thong;
* likes to eat tofu ..."

Yep, it's all true. Plus he likes to catch but can seem to be able to pitch. Can't rise to the challenge ;-). And I am the second person to say so, therefore it must be true. Oh I almost forgot the worst thing.........he is a lawyer too.

[MPJackal]

"Jaysun"
* frequents gay bars;
* active member of the Communist Party;
* dated Helen Thomas;
* wears a thong;
* likes to eat tofu ..."

Yep, it's all true. Plus he likes to catch but can seem to be able to pitch. Can't rise to the challenge ;-). And I am the second person to say so, therefore it must be true. Oh I almost forgot the worst thing.........he is a lawyer too.

[Bigg Red]

"When you have to explain to someone that you don't have herpes or that you are not a dog or that these accusations are malicious and false it really bothers you," Hollis told the Miami Herald.

**
Hollis, I feel sorry for you, but here's a tip. Don't date the sort of woman thinks the Internet is a good place to get to know you.

[MPJackal]

Now I said it twice so it really, really must be doubly true. Sorry Jaysun.

[ishabibble]

I have three sisters. If I were to do such a vile thing to Mr.X, my sisters would back me up 100%, even though it would be lies. It's not right, but that's family for you.

I don't care what this man does, and I don't care about the girlfriend's allegations. This entire idea is just so wrong.
BTW, I am a woman who has been divorced twice. That is why I can say with a certain degree of credibility that this is one of the most unethical and vicious things I've ever heard of...AND maybe this man and woman weren't meant to be, but that DOES NOT give her the right to destroy his credibility.
Has anyone ever posted on the World Wide Web that you have herpes?

[snowstorm12]

He can't prove that what his girlfriend said is false. The relationship is only between two people. It's a he said, she said. He has to prove that the girlfriend knew what she was saying wasn't true, but said it anyway. If she thinks he cheated and gave her herpes that isn't defamation. That's just her opinion and giving her side of the story about a relationship.

[Zeppo]

Imagine if a local website said the following

If you start with a false premise, you will end up with a false conclusion. The local website apparently did not "say" anything - rather, one or more of his ex-girlfriends did the "saying", and the website is very likely protected under US law. If the "sayings" were defamatory, his recourse is to sue the person(s) who did the defaming, which is not the website.

[longtermmemmory]

Thanks, I think the website is confusing IP service immunity with "service".

How is he going to get back his name?
How is anyone going to fight against a blackmailer?

There is a point where negligence becomes culpable. Having an unfiltered website designed to damage social standing and career damage is liability suicide.

I know I could NEVER hire this lawyer as a local counsel because of her statements. The clients would never stand for it.

[discostu]

Well since you can't cure herpes that part can be proven. If he test negative for herpes now then he didn't have herpes then so that makes her a liar and makes what she wrote defamation.

Really the whole thing is pretty screwed up and makes me glad I'm married and don't have to worry about the modern dating world, as lame as it was 16 years ago it seems to have gotten much worse.

[longtermmemmory]

Imagine if this was "dontdateher.com" and he was calling his former date an STD infected, bitch, who was little more than a gold digging prostitute?

The women would be going nuts over him calling her that no matter how true it was.

Look at what hollyweird is pushing as the next comedy "the exgirlfried is a superhero" with her doing the PMS breakup attacks.

Not only do I hope he wins and sends a message, I hope the judge imposes PUNATIVE damages and PERSONAL liability upon the founders and ex girlfriend.

[longtermmemmory]

not quite, this is a time place and manner question.

The website is INTENDED as a revenge site. It is not a forum for ideas, it is a platform by DESIGN to do damage.

There are pleanty of legal examples under old media where this websites liability is inevitable in the strict legal sense of the word.

Disclaimers will not protect them from their negligence. The founders better start praying they don't get hit with punatives because the judge may want to make an example in the New Media era.

[snowstorm12]

Well the part about herpes was probably a lie on her part because she was so pissed off about all of the cheating. She may be able to weasel out of it by saying she thought she got herpes because she found bumps or something.

You're right she could get in trouble on the herpes thing, if it isn't true.

[longtermmemmory]

nobody is raising girls to be women, feminsts are raising girls to be petulant brats.

[JaguarXKE]

* frequents gay bars;
* active member of the Communist Party;
* dated Helen Thomas;
* wears a thong;
* likes to eat tofu ...

You need the proper header:

Hot liberal Democrat "fella" seeks meaningful, (or meaningless, it doesn't matter) relationship

[Mordacious]

If the "sayings" were defamatory, his recourse is to sue the person(s) who did the defaming, which is not the website.

Yup. I hunted around and couldn't find any info that he's suing the ex, which has to make you wonder if this isn't more about money than anything else. I did see that that website has a sister site where women can post about guys they've dated who are wonderful.

I'm not a big fan of using the courts for stuff like this. If I was, I would've sued the a-hole who spread all those vicious rumors about me after I rejected him back in high school.

[Chickensoup]

Apparently two women have posted that he is bad news. He's a lawyer too. Three strikes.


He won't win this case.

[SandyInSeattle]

Ah, I see.

I have to admit I would be tempted to post a few tidbits about my ex, if only to serve as a warning to his future ex-wives.

[discostu]

You're assuming there was any cheating. She could just be one of those wierd ones that think everytime her SO is out of her line of sight he's cheating on her. Or maybe she just said it to have something mean to say, I think a lot of the people on that site think of it like a bitchfest and forget that there's actually an audience out there. We've all talked bad about ex's, and much of what we've said was probably a fiction, but that was between us whoever we were talking to, on the web it's totally different.

[discostu]

It's not just the women, it's the whole concept of dating, it's gotten out of hand.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

LOL -- there was a theme there, and I didn't know until you pointed it out.

[Tall_Texan]

Guys, it really doesn't matter because no matter what awful thing is said about a guy, a woman will believe it. The more defensive you get about it, the more she'll think it must be true or you wouldn't be defensive about it. Then she'll decide if she still wants you around. If she does, she can always hold onto this little slanderous tidbit to throw in your face in order to "win" some future argument.

So, when you look at it that way, you're already screwed. Doesn't matter if the slander comes across the backyard fence or over the internet. She'll believe it if she wants to and ignore it if she wants to. Truth doesn't enter into the equation.

[ovrtaxt]

Stop talking about Jaysun like that! He is a REAL man, and he loves to pitch! Those claims are slanderous!

Don't worry, Jaysun baby. I'll defend you!! XOXO

[Tall_Texan]

Oh, heck. If you look at how few posters are using their forums, you'd realize this is not having much impact. Site interface is very slow too.

[Zeppo]

The plaintiff will have a very high hurdle to overcome. IANAL, but nevertheless I know that the Communications Decency Act provides some pretty broad safe harbors for website operators. Take a look at this Wikipedia entry - while the Wikipedia entry itself is not authoritative, it contains links to a number of source documents that are.

[misterrob]

Yeah, well how's about someone post some malicious stuff about you and see how you like it.

Hey everyone, Jaysun is a liberal. Voted for Clinton, secretly donates to Code Pink and subscribes to the NY Times.

Might seem like nothing to you but for some people certain accusations can seriously impact their real world lives

[Jaysun]

Stop talking about Jaysun like that! He is a REAL man, and he loves to pitch! Those claims are slanderous!

Don't worry, Jaysun baby. I'll defend you!! XOXO

Thanks. I was really getting down and I was just about to lock myself in the bathroom with a jar of moonshine, a revolver, and a notepad when I saw your post.

[ladyjane]

Calm down. I was lawyer bashing. It's still okay to do that, isn't it? ;-)

[Jaysun]

misterrob, this is absurd for several reasons other than the one I've been harping about.

You could go look at the things written about Todd Hollis for yourself, but the tiny site take decades to load. So I'll repeat them for you here:

-I used to date this guy and heard he was gay, i'm quite sure he is bi. I remember his father George asking him if he was.

-Do NOT DATE HIM. He gave me an STD and dated 2 people at a time.

-Dark and handsome ladies, he looks like a chocolate dream. Until you get to know him. His crib is a dump. He wears dirty clothes all the time. He's an attorney but you would never think so cause he complains about paying child support for his kids. He got hook-ups in every zipcode in the USA. He's hot....DON'T LET HIM FOOL YOU GIRL!

This is the infantile nonsense that he's suing over. And guess what? Almost nobody had ever heard of Todd Hollis or the website prior to this story. All he's done is draw attention to what he claims are damaging falsehoods. Now thousands of people who never would have seen the comments are left wondering if they're not true. He's had more than 5,000 searches for his name on the site in the last few days.

Besides that, read over the site and tell me if you'd date a girl who first looked you up at dontdatehimgirl.com