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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnNephew" data-source="post: 98140" data-attributes="member: 2171">This is interesting to me for two reasons.  First is that I sold short XYBR back in '98, when IIRC they were issuing toxic convertibles (a financing vehicle that keeps the company in cash for operations, like paying the CEO, while often doing serious damage to the value of the stock).  It's too bad I didn't stay short; I would have made a lot more profit riding them down.  Sigh.Second, though, there is an interesting similar case in Minnesota right now.  It was an online flame war between two individuals, one in Minnesota and one in, I think, Alabama, in a message board or listserv about Egyptology or something.  Insults were hurled, flames were fanned, the usual we've all seen.  The woman in Alabama sued, and like this XYBR case won a default judgement because the Minnesota woman didn't want (and in all likelihood could not afford) to go down and defend herself.  What's interesting is that the Alabama woman then sued in a Minnesota court to collect the judgement.  THAT is the case which is now, I believe, in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court.  After all, it's kind of chilling if, say, a corporation could file all its lawsuits against online critics from somewhere like Nome, Alaska, with court dates in January.In any case, it's not just corporations with axes to grind -- individuals, who can be considerably less rational than corps, can be a source of considerable misery through this kind of lawsuit.  :-(</blockquote>

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