affidavit of nik lamas-richie in support of defendants' renewed motion for summary judgment

8/14/2019 Affidavit of Nik Lamas-Richie in support of Defendants' Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY

NORTHERN DIVISION AT COVINGTON

SARAH JONES, a/k/a/JANE DOE,

Plaintiff,

v.

DIRTY WORLDENTERTAINMENTRECORDINGS LLC, et al .,

Defendants.

Case No. 2:09-cv-00219-WOB

Judge William O. Bertelsman

AFFIDAVIT OF NIK LAMAS-RICHIE

IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’

RENEWED MOTION FOR SUMMARY

JUDGMENT

I, NIK LAMAS-RICHIE, declare as follows:

My name is NIK LAMAS-RICHIE. I am a resident of the State of California, am over

the age of 18 years, and if called to testify in court I could and would truthfully testify to

the following information based upon my own personal knowledge.

1. I am currently employed as the manager of Defendant DIRTY WORLD,

LLC (“Dirty World”) which owns and operates the website www.TheDirty.com.

2. I am aware that on January 10, 2012, the Court in this matter issued an

order finding that I was not entitled to immunity under the Communications Decency Act

because, among other things, “The principal content of ‘the dirty.com’ web site is not

only offensive but tortious.” To my knowledge, this conclusion is untrue and is without

any basis in fact.

3. As of March 7, 2013, www.TheDirty.com contains a total of 121,863

separate posts in more than 900 separate categories. In addition, the site also contains a

total of 3,182,200 comments about posts.

Case: 2:09-cv-00219-WOB-CJS Doc #: 177-1 Filed: 03/07/13 Page: 1 of 94 - Page ID#: 2696



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4. As I have previously stated, users are allowed to submit posts to

www.TheDirty.com on any topic they choose -- it is not necessary that the post be

negative or derogatory in any way. Rather, users can (and do) submit posts about

anything or anyone, positive or negative, and as long as I think the topic is reasonably

interesting and not obviously unlawful, I will approve the post for publication.

5. With more than 120,000+ posts on the site in 900 different categories, it is

impossible to make generalized conclusions about what type of “principal content”

appears on the site. This is particularly true because new content is submitted every day,

and the nature and type of submissions varies based on what is happening in the world at

the time. For example, a substantial number of posts I received last November related to

the presidential election race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. After the

election was over, the number of political submissions decreased. In January each year,

submissions often relate to the Super Bowl. This past February, I received lots of

submissions relating to the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut followed by a

large number of submissions relating to the debate on gun control.

6. Attached hereto as Exhibits 1–41 are just a small sample of posts currently

appearing on www.TheDirty.com about these sorts of general news stories. Again,

because users are permitted to submit posts on any topic they want, content appearing on

the site can include general news stories like these, or it can include more personal posts

like the ones which gave rise to this lawsuit. I do not have any control over what users

choose to submit, so the range of possible content appearing on the site is essentially

unlimited.




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7. Contrary to the arguments presented by Ms. Jones in this case, material

appearing on www.TheDirty.com is frequently identical to the content appearing on more

mainstream sites such as www.facebook.com. In fact, as reflected in Exhibit 42 attached

hereto, Facebook contains a page about this litigation which includes a verbatim copy of

the allegedly defamatory statements which Ms. Jones wants me to pay her $11 million for

“publishing”. Similarly, as reflected in Exhibit 43, Facebook includes numerous news

stories about this case including national television interviews given by Ms. Jones in

which she actively discussed the facts of this case ensuring that her story reached the

widest possible audience.

8. I completely disagree with the suggestion that all, or even a majority, of the

posts appearing on www.TheDirty.com are unlawful. Because unlawful content

increases the likelihood of litigation which has a severe negative impact on the site’s

profitability, I have a vested interest in trying to exclude as much unlawful content as I

can, keeping in mind that it is absolutely impossible for me to conclusively determine

exactly what content is lawful and what content is not.

9. To that end, users who submit content to www.TheDirty.com are required

to agree to the site’s Terms of Service or “TOS” which are located on the site here:

http://thedirty.com/terms-of-use/. A copy of our TOS is attached hereto as Exhibit 44.

Among other things, Section 3 of the TOS specifically prohibits users from submitting

any false or unlawful content: “Comments or any other material which is false,

defamatory, or otherwise unlawful is not allowed.”




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10. Although I cannot and do not make a pre-publication determination of what

content is true and what content is not, if someone contacts me and says that a post is

false, I will usually agree to remove the post as a violation of our Terms of Service.

However, over the years many people have contacted me and stated that post is false

when, in fact, the post turned out to be completely true. For that reason, the mere fact

that a person claims a post is false does not automatically mean the post is a violation of

our Terms of Service.

11. Since I first started www.TheDirty.com, I have usually been willing to

remove content upon request in most cases. When I receive a removal request that I feel

is appropriate, the actual post is not deleted from our server. Instead, it is marked

“private” which has the effect of making the post disappear from public view, but a copy

of the post remains on our server in case we need it for litigation or any other future use.

12. According to the site’s records, as of March 7, 2013, a total of 2,215 posts

have been marked “private”. However, this figure does not reflect the total number of

posts removed since the site first began because prior to mid-2009, www.TheDirty.com

operated under a different system in which posts were not marked “private”, they were

simply deleted. Under the old system, when a post was deleted we did not keep any

record of the post or of the fact that it was removed. As such, the existing total of 2,215

“private” posts does not include anything that was removed prior to the installation of our

new system in mid-2009.




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Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the

United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

EXECUTED ON: March 7, 2013.




Exhibit 1




Exhibit 2




Exhibit 3




Exhibit 4




Exhibit 5




Exhibit 6




Exhibit 7




Exhibit 8




Exhibit 9




Exhibit 10




Exhibit 11




Exhibit 12




Exhibit 13




Exhibit 14




Exhibit 15




Exhibit 16




Exhibit 17




Exhibit 18




Exhibit 19




Exhibit 20




Exhibit 21




Exhibit 22




Exhibit 23




Exhibit 24




Exhibit 25




Exhibit 26




Exhibit 27




Exhibit 28




Exhibit 29




Exhibit 30




Exhibit 31




Exhibit 32




Exhibit 33




Exhibit 34




Exhibit 35




Exhibit 36




Exhibit 37




Exhibit 38




Exhibit 39




Exhibit 40




Exhibit 41




Exhibit 42




Exhibit 43




Exhibit 44




Terms of Use

This website is owned and operated by:

Dirty World, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company

Email: [email protected]

Mailing Address:

Dirty World, LLC c/o Corporate Creations Network, Inc.

3411 Silverside Road, #104 Rodney Bldg.

Wilmington, DE 19810

Fax: (480) 248-3196

NOTICE: We strongly prefer to be contacted by email. If you contact us via fax

or regular postal mail, your correspondence MUST include an email

address where we can send a response. Written inquiries which do not include a

valid email address will not be reviewed and will not receive a response.Dirty World LLC reserves the right to change and modify this site at any given

time without any notice and, by using this site subsequent to the revision of the

term of use, you agree to be bound by such changes, if you find the terms of use to

be unacceptable, you must immediately terminate your use of this web site.

1. The images, documents and graphics published at thedirty.com could include

inaccuracies or typographical errors. Dirty World LLC reserves the right to modify

the information contained in this Web Site without notice. Dirty World LLC site

may contain links to other Web Sites which are completely independent to thisWeb Site. Dirty World LLC makes no representation or warranty as to the

accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information oropinions in any such

linked Web Site, and any link to another Web Site shall not in any manner be

construed as an endorsement by us of that Web Site, or the products or services

offered therein. Dirty World LLC does not endorse the opinions of third parties

expressed on this site or on linked Web Sites.

2. Thedirty.com is all about gossip and satire. The content that is published

contains rumors, speculation, assumptions, opinions and factual information.Postings may contain erroneous or inaccurate information. The owner of this site

does not ensure the accurateness of any content presented on thedirty.com.

3. By submitting photos, videos and statements to thedirty.com you agree to

express consent to publish and release liability from our officers, employees,




vendors, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers agents and affiliates. Comments or

any other material which is false, defamatory, or otherwise unlawful is not

allowed. Upon submission you will have irrevocably agreed to these terms. All

submissions will remain confidential.

4. In the event that a third party has submitted content of your likeness and would

like to request removal, please visit the FAQ’s page. Removal is done at the

discretion of Dirty World LLC.

5. All written submissions on the blog are opinions of third parties and not of Dirty

World LLC. Dirty World LLC is not responsible for the written opinions and

content submitted.

6. If you do not agree with any of these Terms of Use please do not use this Site,

because by using this Site you will be deemed to have irrevocably agreed to these

terms.

7. All rights, title and interest (including all copyrights, trademarks and other

intellectual property rights) in this Web Site belongs to Dirty World LLC. All

logos, images and text are © 2008-2012 Dirty World LLC. All rights are reserved.

This website is purely based on entertainment.

Dirty World LLC in no way means intent to harm and is reasonable to work with.

If you cannot make fun of yourself, who can you make fun of?


affidavit of nik lamas-richie in support of defendants' renewed motion for summary judgment

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