John Doe v. Mahoney

418 P.3d 1013
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedFebruary 6, 2018
DocketNo. 1 CA-SA 17-0267
StatusPublished

This text of 418 P.3d 1013 (John Doe v. Mahoney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
John Doe v. Mahoney, 418 P.3d 1013 (Ark. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

McMURDIE, Judge:

¶ 1 Petitioner John Doe seeks special action relief from a superior court order denying his motion to quash a subpoena served by Real Party in Interest U.S. American Resources, Inc. ("USAR") requiring Doe's identity to be disclosed because of alleged defamatory statements he made on an internet blog. We accept jurisdiction and grant relief, holding that under the controlling analysis set forth in Mobilisa, Inc. v. Doe , 217 Ariz. 103, 170 P.3d 712 (App. 2007), and considering the First Amendment's protection of anonymous and pseudonymous speech, USAR's claims would not survive a motion for summary judgment based on the six statements reviewed in the superior court's order.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 2 USAR is a mining and exploration company founded by John Owen, who currently serves as its CEO. As part of its business, USAR seeks investors to develop various mining projects by promising them profits from those mining investments. From 2005 to 2007, USAR and its subsidiaries received cease and desist orders from Washington, California, and Maryland, based on its conduct in soliciting investments.

¶ 3 In September 2005, Washington's Department of Financial Institutions Securities Division issued a "Statement of Charges and Notice of Intent to Enter Order to Cease and Desist and to Impose Fines." The securities administrator that issued the statement found USAR "failed to provide material information regarding the investment, including ... the risks involved with gold mining." The statement further concluded that USAR "made misstatements of material fact or omitted to state material facts necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading." USAR was fined $5000 as part of a consent order related to the statement of charges issued by the State of Washington.

¶ 4 In June 2006, California's Department of Corporations issued a "Desist and Refrain Order," which found USAR was offering securities "by means of written or oral communications which included an untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statement made ... not misleading...." As part of the stipulation with the California Department of Corporations, USAR acknowledged, without admitting or denying fault, that the California Corporations Commissioner found USAR made three material omissions when soliciting potential investors regarding a mine in Arizona (the "Chastain" mine). The omissions listed in the stipulation included failing to tell potential investors that (1) USAR was promising more gold on its properties than had been recovered from the *1016entire state of Arizona since the late 1800s; (2) at that time no gold mines were currently active in Arizona; and (3) no Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") mining plan had been approved and USAR was therefore not yet authorized to mine, despite claims that it was mining tons of ore a day.

¶ 5 In September 2007, the Securities Commissioner of Maryland issued to International Energy and Resources, Inc. ("IER"), a wholly owned subsidiary of USAR, a "Final Order to Cease and Desist." In the order, the commissioner found IER had made "materially false and misleading statements regarding the value of [investment] interests and the promised investor profits," and had omitted material facts, "including full representation of the risk associated with an investment in IER."

¶ 6 From May to December 2016, Doe made a series of posts on a blog hosted on InvestorsHub.com, a website that organizes online debates for investors regarding various companies and prospective investments. Doe's posts concerned the viability of USAR mining investments in Arizona and accused USAR of fraud. Doe is a moderator of the blog on which he posted, which is entitled "Mining Company Research Board" and is described as "a place to bring concerns and questions about penny stock mining companies and their mining claims or to just discuss the merits of individual penny stock mining companies and share/build research on those companies." Doe commented on the blog under the username "gitreal."

¶ 7 In January 2017, USAR filed a defamation complaint against Doe for his posts on the blog. Afterwards, USAR served a subpoena on Cox Communications, Inc., seeking Doe's IP address. Doe filed a motion to quash the subpoena, and after oral argument, the superior court denied the motion and ordered Doe's identity revealed. In its order, the superior court did not evaluate all the statements challenged by USAR, but instead focused on just six of the defamatory statements alleged by USAR. The court found that at least one of the statements, if proven true, could render USAR's claim of defamation capable of surviving summary judgment under the test set forth in Mobilisa . Doe filed this petition for special action seeking review of the superior court's ruling.

JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 8 Special action jurisdiction is discretionary and appropriate when no "equally plain, speedy, and adequate remedy by appeal" exists. Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 1(a). An order denying a motion to quash is appropriate for special action review. Helge v. Druke , 136 Ariz. 434, 436, 666 P.2d 534, 536 (App. 1983). Furthermore, Doe does not have an adequate remedy by appeal because the challenged subpoena will reveal his identity unless this court grants relief. Thus, in the exercise of our discretion, we accept special action jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes ("A.R.S.") section 12-120.21(A)(4) and Arizona Rule of Procedure for Special Action 1(a).

¶ 9 This court reviews rulings on discovery matters for abuse of discretion. Mobilisa , 217 Ariz. at 107, ¶ 9, 170 P.3d at 716. Whether the superior court applied the correct legal standard, including whether a cause of action could survive a motion for summary judgment, is a matter of law that we review de novo . See Ponce v. Parker Fire Dist. , 234 Ariz. 380, 382, ¶ 9, 322 P.3d 197, 199 (App. 2014).

DISCUSSION

¶ 10 Doe argues the superior court abused its discretion by denying his motion to quash and by improperly analyzing the controlling authority set forth in Mobilisa .

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
376 U.S. 254 (Supreme Court, 1964)
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission
514 U.S. 334 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union
521 U.S. 844 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Yetman v. English
811 P.2d 323 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1991)
Florez v. Sargeant
917 P.2d 250 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1996)
Helge v. Druke
666 P.2d 534 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1983)
In Re Eric L.
943 P.2d 842 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1997)
Dombey v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
724 P.2d 562 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1986)
Orme School v. Reeves
802 P.2d 1000 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1990)
Turner v. Devlin
848 P.2d 286 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1993)
Fendler v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
636 P.2d 1257 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1981)
Heuisler v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
812 P.2d 1096 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1991)
Read v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
819 P.2d 939 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1991)
Mobilisa, Inc. v. Doe
170 P.3d 712 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2007)
Ponce v. Parker Fire District
322 P.3d 197 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2014)
Walker v. Southwest Mines Development Co.
81 P.2d 90 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1938)
Keg Restaurants Arizona, Inc. v. Jones
375 P.3d 1173 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
418 P.3d 1013, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-doe-v-mahoney-arizctapp-2018.