Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
740 F.3d 1284 (2014)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Summit Accommodators, Inc. (Summit) used a Ponzi scheme to defraud its investors. Summit hired Obsidian Finance Group, LLC (Obsidian) (plaintiff) to handle the company’s resulting chapter 11 bankruptcy. Kevin Padrick (plaintiff), an Obsidian employee, was appointed as Summit’s bankruptcy trustee. Crystal Cox (defendant), an Internet blogger, wrote several blog posts stating that Obsidian and Padrick were committing fraud, money laundering, and other crimes in connection with the Summit bankruptcy. Obsidian sued Cox for defamation. The district court instructed the jury that Cox’s knowledge of the falsity of the statement and intent were irrelevant to Obsidian’s claim, and that the law presumed harm to Obsidian. The jury found in favor of Obsidian and awarded damages. Cox appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hurwitz, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 812,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
