from the Long Island Business News:
PetsWarehouse.com founder dries out aquarists in courts
by KEN SCHACHTER
This is a tale of underwater gardeners (also known as aquarists), a Copiague businessman, the Internet, a $15 million libel suit and a long and twisting path through the justice system.
At issue: What are the limits of free speech on the Internet?
Think you can castigate a company online with impunity? Think again. You could find yourself on the receiving end of a heavy lawsuit.
The first shot in what has become an epic legal battle was fired last May 15. That's when Dan Resler, a professor in the mathematical sciences department of Virginia Commonwealth University, posted a notice on an online bulletin board of aquatic plant hobbyists.
"Thinking of buying plants from Pet Warehouse[sic]? Don't. What is crappy is their service! And they're maybe even a bit dishonest."
That comment came after Resler bought a plant and felt he was overcharged for shipping.
Resler's online comments triggered an outpouring from others on the bulletin board. Many chimed in with comments like: "Remember petSWEARhouse, buy their plants and you'll be swearing!"
The businessman in question is Robert Novak, who does business as PetsWarehouse.com (
www.petswarehouse.com). The online pet shop shares space at his son's store, Pets Warehouse, in Copiague, he said.
Within weeks of the postings, Novak was in court. In a lawsuit dated May 30, 2001, and filed in federal eastern district court, Novak named Resler, several other bulletin board participants and Active Window Publications Inc., which hosts the bulletin board.
The old saw says that an attorney who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer. Whoever made that up didn't envisage Novak, who is serving as his own lawyer. Novak doesn't have a law degree, but he is an old hand at legal wranglings. Talk to him and he cites case law, chapter and verse.
"It's my hobby," he said.
Novak was able to consolidate the case in federal court. "It's only five miles for me," he said. "All these people have to come here at their own expense."
In addition to Resler, who lives in Virginia, there were two defendants from Massachusetts, one from North Carolina, one from Texas and one from California.
The defendants were charged with libel, defamation and trademark infringement. Novak asked for $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
In July, PetsWarehouse.com's computers were "hacked" by Resler. Resler's version is that the invoice he received for his order had a URL on the bottom. When he typed the URL on an Internet browser and changed one letter, he got an in-house version of the invoice that included his credit card information.
In an updated filing dated Sept. 15, Novak added charges related to the computer hacking and named additional defendants. The lawsuit says Novak suffered "headaches, nausea, nervousness, anxiety, embarrassment, humiliation and mental distress." The filing also charged that Resler and others altered password protections, allowing access to PetsWarehouse.com's databases.
"They opened the back door to the computer," Novak said.
Resler and the other defendants found themselves in a quagmire, having to hire a local attorney to handle their case. They raised money through a defense fund, but after a few months the fund was running low.
Resler said his lawyer was confident they could defeat Novak in court. But, Resler said, when the lawyer told the defendants how much it would cost, "we said, 'Settle.' "
A settlement agreement was entered dated Feb. 27, 2002. Resler paid Novak $4,150. Another defendant surrendered her domain name, "Plantedtank.com." In the agreement, the five settling defendants continued to protest their innocence.
The lawsuit, meanwhile, lives on. Several defendants, including Active Windows Productions Inc. and its owner, Mark Rosenstein, continue to fight. In an amended filing, Novak was expected to name more defendants.
Jennifer Granick, litigation director of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, said lawsuits filed by companies seeking to squelch criticism on message boards are "growing by leaps and bounds."
Novak, meanwhile, said he has further legal targets. One is the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York. The BBB gives Pets Warehouse an "unsatisfactory rating," the organization's lowest. Novak said some of the complaints were from another business that licensed the Pets Warehouse name and that he didn't get adequate opportunity to respond.
As for the hobbyists, Novak said: They "all want to look like they're Mary Poppins," while they try to put him out of business.
And what did Resler learn?
"I'm holding my tongue," he said. "All I need is for him to file another lawsuit. The guy's using the courts to bully and he's willing to spend money and we're not.
"Being naive, we figured we'd get justice from the courts. But the man with the deepest pockets wins."
i heard about his latest bankruptcy through the aquatic plants mailing list, btw :wink:
