Ripoff Report - Other Lawsuits

Other Lawsuits

Many other companies have sued Ripoff Report, but so far none of these cases have ever been resolved against the site. Some previous suits can be reviewed at Citizen Media Law Project. A partial list of recent cases includes the following:

• A lawsuit was filed against Ripoff Report in New York in January 2010 seeking $11 million in damages. The complaint also asserts claims against Magedson and against Google. As of December 2011, the case remains ongoing.

• On March 12, 2010, a lawsuit was filed against Ripoff Report in New Jersey. The complaint includes claims for RICO/extortion and seeks damages of $33,333,333.00. The case was subsequently dismissed by the court in August 2011.

Several people and businesses listed on Ripoff Report have allegedly hired the Defamation Action League, an organization run by William L. "Bill" Stanley (possibly a pseudonym), who is listed as one of the world's top 200 spammers, to attempt to make Magedson and his business partners remove specific reports. In return, Magedson filed a lawsuit under RICO. On June 21, 2007 a preliminary injunction was granted against DefamationAction.com and ComplaintRemover.com. Stanley and his associates were found liable for defamation and making death threats. Robert Russo, who claims not to be part of the Stanley group—but who does own ComplaintRemover.com, filed an answer, defenses and a counter-suit in the case. The parties reached a settlement on May 15, 2009.

Despite its track record of successfully defending cases brought in U.S. courts, in July 2003 a default judgment was entered against the site in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court High Court of Justice for EC$27,100,932.00. The award, made in Eastern Caribbean currency rather than U.S. dollars, has not been recognized or enforced by any U.S. Court. With the recent passage of the SPEECH Act which prohibits U.S. courts from recognizing foreign judgments if they conflict with U.S. law, it is unlikely that any foreign judgments against Ripoff Report would be enforceable in the United States.