HUNTINGTON -- Schooner's Bar & Grill and its owner are suing 29 unnamed individuals, claiming they made false, defamatory and libelous statements on a forum Web site.
On Oct. 19, 2010, Topix.com began hosting a thread about Schooner's Bar & Grill filing bankruptcy, according to a complaint filed March 16 in Cabell Circuit Court.
Jason Tolliver claims the thread was not solicited, initiated, authorized or sponsored by him or the bar.
Statements made by the defendants and published within the Schooner's thread on Topix.com are false, defamatory, libelous and otherwise actionable, according to the suit.
Tolliver claims the defendants falsely stated that he has engaged in the commission of illegal business practices, imputed an inability or want of integrity in the discharge of Schooner's business operations and imputed a lack of ability in Schooner's business operations.
Since learning of the presence of some of the statements made by the defendants that were published in the Schooner's thread, Tolliver and Schooner's have taken steps to have Topic remove all defamatory statements from the thread and have obtained the IP addresses of the defendants in order to find out their actual names, according to the suit.
Tolliver claims the defendants' statements on the forum "intended to interfere with Schooner's prospective business relationships with Schooner's customers and interfere with Schooner's potential customers."
Tolliver is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. He is being represented by Daniel A. Earl and Cindy D. McCarty.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge David M. Pancake.
Cabell Circuit Court case number: 11-C-134
Schooner's says 29 people made false statements on Web
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