Free speech...free speech...anybody???

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/s...tml?from_rss=1

Mesa Airlines Inc., the Mainland parent of the Hawaii airline go!, is suing an Aloha Airlines pilot whom it claims has been active in online criticism of the company.

Mike Uslan, who flies for Aloha Airlines, is one of 11 defendants in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, where Mesa is based. The other 10 are identified only as John Does I-X.

The suit appears aimed at H.E.R.O., an organization whose name stands for "Hawaii's airline employees repelling Ornstein," a reference to Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein.

A Web site -- dontflygo.com -- operated by H.E.R.O. has posted editorials against Mesa and Ornstein, which founded go! last year.

Mesa's suit alleges that Uslan and his John Doe co-defendants have "caused injury and damages to Mesa" and "directed defamatory statements" at Mesa and its chief executive. It also accuses them of trademark infringement.

In its lawsuit, Mesa asks the court to enjoin Uslan and the other defendants from using the airline's trade names and service marks and "from making false and defamatory claims or statements about Mesa Airlines." It also asks the court to order Uslan to reveal the identities of the owners and content providers for the www.donflygo.com Web site.

Finally, it asks the court to award punitive damages and attorneys' fees.
The Mesa lawsuit asserts that the Hawaii Web site comes under the jurisdiction of the Arizona court because its content is intended "to harm Mesa Airlines' finances and reputation in the state of Arizona."

This week, Uslan filed in a Honolulu court a motion for a protective order to limit the scope of subpoenas and depositions filed against him.

His lawyers assert in Uslan's filing that "the transparent purpose" of actions by Mesa attorneys "is to intimidate Uslan and others," adding that "Uslan is a resident of the state of Hawaii. Mesa obviously filed this lawsuit in the district court of Arizona to make it more expensive and difficult for him to defend himself."

 

JO? I'm not surprised! Move over Lorenzo, there's a new kid battling for the title of "Worst Airline CEO EVER!"

 

Unbelievable the lengths the shameless mgmt. types will go. Kind of like when Trump said he was gonna sue Rosie, now i am on his side but these guys can't take any criticism without goin to the courts and crying about it.

 

Call me primitive, but I'd just kill to take J.O. in a dark alley and kick the sh!t out of that scumbag.... (and no, I'm not scared of getting sued!)

 

Tough talk from a nerdy meteorologist on a message board. JO would kick the crap out of you! (Yeah, he's still a piece of ****, but he's a tough dude.)

 

he has to make money some how, go isnt.

 

It will be an interesting case for us to follow to see if the lawsuit has merit or not. There is existing case law that treats online publishers like traditional newsprint publishers with respect to editorial content, although that's no guarantee of a favorable outcome.

One thing is for certain, it will cost the operators of that site some money to defend themselves in court.

Since this forum is offered for free (i.e. no revenue to pay legal fees) we'll continue to insist that users abide by the terms of service.

 

Even if JO is the worst CEO in the airlines, it still amazes me that he still has people putting in applications to work there.

 

The problem is some people "pilots" just don't know.

 

Yeah, without reading what I have on this website, I would have been lured into the CRJ900. Thank god for APC!