Lucido v. Maxwell

Lucido v. Maxwell

Opinion

 [*415]  This matter came before the Court on May 13, 2016, on Defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons set forth below, the motion to dismiss is granted.

Background

Plaintiff Kevin P. Lucido alleges the following facts in his Complaint, which will be assumed as true for purposes of this motion. In late February of 2015, Defendant Jeffrey Neill Maxwell posted defamatory statements on an online game site known as Wrestler Unstoppable. Compl. ¶¶ 7-8. More specifically, under the guise of a pseudonym, Defendant accused the owner of Sports: Unstoppable, LLC ("Sports: Unstoppable") of sexual harassment, and Defendant stated that he had secured "on[e] of the most respected ladies at SU [Sports: Unstoppable] as a witness." Compl. ¶ 8. Defendant never mentioned the owner of Sports Unstoppable by name on the Wrestler Unstoppable site.

In addition, on February 7, 2016, Defendant indicated in a Facebook exchange that he had "accused him of sexually harassing her." Compl. ¶ 12. When asked [**2]  during this Facebook exchange whether this accusation is referring to "Mithras or his manager," Defendant stated, "Both. Kevin is a piece of [expletive]." Compl. ¶ 12. Plaintiff's online pseudonym is "Mithras." Compl. ¶ 12.

Plaintiff is a citizen and resident of Virginia. Compl. ¶ 1. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aurora Media, Inc. ("Aurora"), which is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Compl. ¶¶ 4, 6. Aurora is the  [*416]  parent company of several entities, including Sports: Unstoppable, which operates the Wrestler Unstoppable game site. Compl. ¶¶ 5, 7.

Defendant is a resident of Tennessee. Compl ¶ 2. The Complaint does not indicate the location of Sports: Unstoppable, the identity of Sports: Unstoppable's owner, or the name or location of the witness to the sexual harassment. Also, none of the online statements reference Aurora or connect Aurora to either Sports: Unstoppable or Wrestler Unstoppable.

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