Deal leads to posts removed from thedirty.com

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A Maryland man who sued gossip website thedirty.com claiming it published defamatory statements about him, including that he is a “child stalker,” “a predator” and was dishonorably discharged from the military (he said he received an honorable discharge), entered into a confidential settlement Monday with the website and its operator and commentator, Nik Richie.

Christopher Harvey Hare filed his lawsuit against Richie and The Dirty LLC in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in August. Hare, a finance professional who lives in Abingdon and is a veteran of the Maryland Air National Guard, claimed that he was “specifically targeted for slander, libel, and defamation of his character” through four posts on the website.

Hare said The Dirty operates the website “for the purpose of gossip, posting of stolen images, distribution of pornography, slander, libel, and defamation of character of innocent victims.” He said someone sent in the first post on July 11, 2011 that said, “Nik, I just wanted to warn all of the women of Baltimore to beware of Chris Hare….He’s a disgusting stalker who causes drama and stalks girls kids at their schools….Put this Loser on blast for the good of all women in Baltimore!”

Three more posts followed. In response to one of the postings, Richie said Hare was “trying to prove to himself he’s not gay.”

Hare said Richie’s response showed that he “agreed with the libelous postings.” And Hare said the website and Richie “accepted and maintained” the posts “even after [he] provided proof that all claims about [him] were false,” knowing that “the libelous comments would have a devastating impact on [him] and invade his right to privacy and potential loss of future employment.”

“[The false statements proximately caused [Hare] to suffer loss of reputations, and lose potential employment with the U.S. Navy reserves as a supply officer, lose potential employment with Fannie Mae, lose potential employment with Harley Davidson and other companies due to the Google search results of Mr. Chris Hare in Baltimore, Maryland,” he said in his complaint.

Hare claimed that he “emailed the defendants many times beginning on July 15, 2011,” asking that the offending posts be removed, but said he got no response. He sued for, among other things, defamation, invasion of privacy, misappropriation of name and likeness, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy, and requested that the site be permanently enjoined from using his name and/or likeness. He requested “no less than” $50 million in compensatory damages and asked for punitive and treble damages pursuant to Maryland laws for libel and slander.

Reached by telephone Tuesday, Hare, who represented himself, said he could not discuss the case under the terms of the agreement.

David Gingras of the Gingras Law Office PLLC in Phoenix, Ariz., represents the website. Gingras confirmed Tuesday that the terms of the settlement were confidential, but said the website agreed to remove the posts about Hare.

Gingras said it was unfortunate that Hare sued in the first place.

“People file lawsuits to try to get information removed from the Internet all of the time,” he said. “It’s a self-defeating endeavor, and it ends up being a huge waste of time because the media republishes the details.”

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander denied Dirty World LLC’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Aug. 29, 2012. The website had argued that it was entitled to immunity under the Communications Decency Act, which usually safeguards websites from liability for the writings of their commentators. Hollander, however, said Richie’s Dirty World was the creator or developer, in whole or in part, of the content at issue, and therefore it was not entitled to immunity under the act as to that content.

“To be sure, Dirty World contends that it is not responsible for the actions of Nik Richie,” Hollander said in a memorandum opinion. “However, [the act] does preclude joint liability for the joint development of content.”

She said that if Dirty World was “merely a passive provider of Mr. Richie’s material, then Dirty World’s argument might have some weight. But, Richie is the founder and editor-in-chief of thedirty.com. Moreover, a corporation can only act through its agents.”

This is not the first time the website has found itself in legal trouble. Former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones, who was convicted for having sex with a student who was underage, also sued the site for defamation, libel and invasion of privacy. She said the site accused her of having a sexually transmitted disease, and took Richie to task for his comment asking “why are all high school teachers freaks in the sack?” She alleged that her students saw the post and commented on it, and that, as a result of the post, her reputation had been ruined.

A judge ruled that the suit could proceed to trial, and also held that the website was not protected by the Communications Decency Act.

“This Court holds by reason of the very name of the site, the manner in which it is managed, and the personal comments of defendant Richie, the defendants have specifically encouraged development of what is offensive about the content of the site,” wrote Judge William Bertelsman of the Eastern District of Kentucky.

CHRISTOPHER HARVEY HARE V. NIK RICHIE ET. AL

Court:

U.S. District Court, Baltimore

Case No:

1:11-cv-03488

Judge:

Ellen Lipton Hollander

Outcome:

Confidential monetary settlement. Website agreed to remove the posts at issue.

Dates:

Complaint filed: Dec. 05, 2011

Settled: Feb. 25, 2013

Plaintiff’s attorney:

Plaintiff Christopher Harvey Hare represented himself.

Defendant’s attorney:

David Scott Gingras of Gingras Law Office PLLC in Phoenix, Ariz.

Counts:

Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, Misappropriation of Name and Likeness, Statutory Misrepresentation of Name, Photographs and Likeness, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Invasion of Privacy, Civil Conspiracy, Veil Piercing and Vicarious Liability, Injunctive Relief.