Motogolf.com, LLC v. Top Shelf Golf, LLC

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided March 21, 2022·No. 2:20-cv-00674·Unknown

Opinion

3 MOTOGOLF.COM, LLC, Case No.: 2:20-cv-00674-APG-EJY

4 Plaintiff Order

5 v. [ECF Nos. 74, 85]

6 TOP SHELF GOLF, LLC, et al.,

7 Defendants 8 9 Plaintiff Motogolf.com, LLC used online advertisements that were governed by a pay- 10 per-click contract wherein ads would stop appearing to others if they were clicked a certain 11 number of times in a given period. Motogolf contends that defendants Top Shelf Golf, LLC, 12 Top Shelf IT Solutions, Inc., Ivan Sokolovich, and Inna Sokolovich1 sought out Motogolf’s ads 13 and repeatedly clicked on them, causing Motogolf’s ads to disappear sooner and increasing 14 Motogolf’s advertising budget. Motogolf also alleges that Top Shelf and Ivan Sokolovich 15 interfered with Motogolf’s vendor relationships by telling vendors that Motogolf had disrupted 16 Top Shelf’s online advertisements in the same fashion. 17 Motogolf sued the defendants for violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act 18 (CFAA), the Nevada Computer Crimes Law (NCCL), the Lanham Act, the Nevada Deceptive 19 Trade Protection Act (NDTPA), and Nevada’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations 20 (RICO) law, and for intentional interference with contractual relations and intentional 21 22

1 These are the remaining defendants in this action. Defendants Patrick Murphy (erroneously 23 named Kevin P. Murphy), Kevin E. Murphy, and Aliaksandr Shavialevich have already been dismissed. ECF Nos. 47; 51. 1 interference with prospective economic advantage. Motogolf further alleged that the defendants 2 engaged in a conspiracy and aided and abetted violations of these laws. 3 I previously dismissed the CFAA and NCCL claims because Motogolf had not plausibly 4 alleged the defendants accessed Motogolf’s website without authorization. ECF No. 68. I 5 dismissed the intentional interference with a contractual relationship claim because Motogolf had

6 not identified any vendor (and therefore any contractual relationship) that the defendants 7 allegedly interfered with. I dismissed the NDTPA and Lanham Act claims because Motogolf did 8 not plausibly allege the defendants’ click activity was likely to deceive or cause confusion. I 9 dismissed the Nevada RICO claim because Motogolf had not plausibly alleged that the 10 defendants’ conduct involved taking property. I also dismissed the conspiracy and aiding and 11 abetting claims related to the underlying claims I dismissed. I granted Motogolf leave to amend 12 the dismissed claims. 13 Motogolf filed an amended complaint that asserts the same claims with only minor 14 alterations. ECF No. 71. The defendants again move to dismiss, arguing that the amended

15 complaint still fails to state a federal claim under the Lanham Act and the CFAA, so I should 16 dismiss those claims and decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims. 17 The defendants also argue the state law claims fail for a variety of reasons. Motogolf responds 18 that it has adequately alleged its federal claims, but even if it has not, I should exercise 19 supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims. It contends it has adequately alleged those 20 claims. 21 Motogolf also moves for reconsideration of my prior dismissal order, contending that I 22 misunderstood under what section of the Lanham Act Motogolf’s claim arose. ECF No. 85. The 23 defendants oppose reconsideration as untimely, unnecessary, and without merit. 1 I set forth the factual allegations in my prior order. ECF No. 68. I do not repeat the facts 2 here except where necessary to resolve the motions and to identify new allegations in the 3 amended complaint. I dismiss the Lanham Act and CFAA claims. I will allow Motogolf to 4 amend its CFAA claim. I deny without prejudice the remainder of the defendants’ motion to 5 dismiss until the question of subject matter jurisdiction is resolved.

7 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires a plaintiff to plead a “short and plain 8 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” For a motion to dismiss, I 9 apply a two-step process to determine whether a party has stated a claim. Bell Atl. Corp. v. 10 Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56 (2007). First, I must accept as true all the complaint’s 11 allegations and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff’s favor. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 12 662, 678 (2009). Legal conclusions and “mere conclusory statements” are not entitled to that 13 same assumption of truth. Id. at 678-79. Second, I must determine whether the complaint’s 14 factual allegations put forward a plausible claim for relief. Id. at 679. This is a context-specific

15 determination that requires drawing on my judicial experience and common sense. Id. at 679. 16 In addition to Rule 8’s pleading requirements, Motogolf’s claims are subject Rule 9(b)’s 17 heightened pleading standard because they sound in fraud.2 Rule 9(b) requires a plaintiff to 18 “state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud.” A plaintiff must provide the 19 “who, what, when, where, and how” of the fraudulent misconduct. See Vess v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. 20

2 Motogolf does not appear to dispute Rule 9(b)’s application to its claims. ECF No. 76 at 6 21 (“Plaintiff’s allegations clearly meet the requirements of FRCP 9(b).”). Although not all of Motogolf’s claims require fraud as an element, Rule 9(b) applies to claims that are based on a 22 “unified course of fraudulent conduct.” See Vess v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. USA, 317 F.3d 1097, 1104-05 (9th Cir. 2003). Motogolf bases its claims on the defendants allegedly making 23 misleading representations that they are legitimate Motogolf customers by clicking the PPC ads. See, e.g., ECF No. 71 at 22-23, 25, 35-36. 1 USA, 317 F.3d 1097, 1106 (9th Cir. 2003) (quotation omitted). This requires “more than the 2 neutral facts necessary to identify the transaction. The plaintiff must set forth what is false or 3 misleading about a statement, and why it is false.” Id. (emphasis and quotation omitted). The 4 standard can be relaxed when the facts of fraud are in the defendants’ exclusive control, but the 5 plaintiff must still state the “factual basis for the belief.” Neubronner v. Milken, 6 F.3d 666, 672

6 (9th Cir. 1993). 7 A. Lanham Act 8 The Lanham Act governs trademarks and unfair competition. 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. I 9 dismissed the prior complaint’s Lanham Act claim because Motogolf did not allege facts 10 showing how the defendants’ click activity was likely to deceive or cause confusion. ECF No. 68 11 at 14. I granted Motogolf leave to amend this claim. Id. 12 Motogolf has not changed its allegations for this claim from the prior complaint other 13 than to emphasize that its claim is brought under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(B), not § 1125(a)(1)(A). 14 Motogolf contends this is significant because subsection (B) does not have a “likely to deceive”

15 or confusion element. Motogolf alleges that by clicking on the ads, the defendants 16 misrepresented that they were legitimate potential customers of Motogolf. 17 The defendants move to dismiss, arguing that subsection (B) also has a likely to deceive 18 element.

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

Motogolf.com, LLC v. Top Shelf Golf, LLC, (D. Nev. 2022).

Motogolf.com, LLC v. Top Shelf Golf, LLC (Motogolf.com, LLC v. Top Shelf Golf, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Skydive Arizona, Inc. v. Quattrocchi
673 F.3d 1105 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Nosal
676 F.3d 854 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
D. Neubronner v. Michael R. Milken
6 F.3d 666 (Ninth Circuit, 1993)
George Acri v. Varian Associates, Inc.
114 F.3d 999 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
Vess v. Ciba-Geigy Corp. USA
317 F.3d 1097 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
Zucco Partners, LLC v. Digimarc Corp.
552 F.3d 981 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
LVRC HOLDINGS LCC v. Brekka
581 F.3d 1127 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Newcal Industries, Inc. v. IKON Office Solution
513 F.3d 1038 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Satey v. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
521 F.3d 1087 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Lexmark Int'l, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc.
134 S. Ct. 1377 (Supreme Court, 2014)
Hiq Labs, Inc. v. Linkedin Corporation
938 F.3d 985 (Ninth Circuit, 2019)
United States v. Holcombe
883 F.3d 12 (Second Circuit, 2018)