GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum

Gary Shuster writes: This is the first notice of pending litigation to Aleron. Apparently, national-net switched hosting companies from Global Crossing to Aleron in the past few days.

In order to give Aleron a chance to respond, I am attaching a copy of the lawsuit that I intend to have filed on Friday, August 8.

I should also note that to the extent that hosting companies are relying on the CDA for immunity, the Unfair Business Practices claims are wholly unaffected. In addition, I am alleging distributer liability in the slander claim. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has expressly left open the question of whether the CDA abrogates such liability. Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2003), footnote 10.

I have been, to date, unable to reach the current owner of the website http://www.lukeford.com. I would love to resolve this thing without litigation by simply getting the site owner to take the page down, but apparently the site owner doesn't want to be found.

I do not want to be in litigation over this. I only want the web page at issue changed so that the defamatory statements are eliminated. However, I am quite willing to litigate this if necessary. Please note that the contemplated litigation includes not only the issue of whether slander exists on the web site, but also whether the sites hosted by national-net violate community standards in such a way as to trigger unfair business practices liability. I strongly suggest you consider whether you want the issue of obscene material hosted on your networks to be litigated.

If the defamatory statements remain on the web site at the open of business on August 8, 2003, I will file suit. At that point, I will no longer accept any settlement that does not include a stipulated injunction pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 17200 prohibiting you from knowingly hosting any illegal material.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Shuster [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 9:48 PM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: LITIGATION PENDING; Illegal content: Libel on a site you host

I have not had even the courtesy of a reply to my earlier email. You have been on notice for several weeks now as to the slanderous materials you are publishing. Accordingly, I am preparing a lawsuit that will name you as a defendant. I need to hear from you by the end of July. If I don't hear from you by that time, I will file suit on August 1.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Shuster [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 10:16 PM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Illegal content: Libel on a site you host

This letter is sent with regard to the following web page hosted by you:

http://www.lukeford.com/stars/male/brian_shuster.htm

The page contains libelous statements about me (Gary Shuster). In particular, the following material statement is false: "brother Gary is the head lawyer for Shuster's empire". On this page, the "empire" referred to is an allegedly fraudulent pornography entity. In fact, I have never performed legal or other services of any kind, or had any ownership interest in, the referenced pornography company or indeed any pornography company. This material false statement has caused significant damages and continues to do so.

You are now on notice that you are contributing to the publication and distribution of this libelous material. This matter is currently in a pre-litigation phase. If you wish to avoid being named when the lawsuit is filed, you must immediately remove this false statement from your servers.

In addition, please be aware that there are significant other false statements on this page about other individuals. You will probably want to give consideration to whether the other statements on this page give rise to liability for your company.

Please let me know what steps you intend to take. It is important that you let me know that you intend to resolve this amicably so that I do not name you in a lawsuit that you would rather avoid. I am fairly close to filing the suit, so please take action quickly.

Very Truly Yours,

Gary Shuster
559-222-9225
[email protected]