Roca Labs, Inc. v. Consumer Opinion Corp.

140 F. Supp. 3d 1311, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143107, 2015 WL 6437786
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedOctober 21, 2015
DocketCase No. 8:14-cv-2096-T-33EAJ
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 140 F. Supp. 3d 1311 (Roca Labs, Inc. v. Consumer Opinion Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roca Labs, Inc. v. Consumer Opinion Corp., 140 F. Supp. 3d 1311, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143107, 2015 WL 6437786 (M.D. Fla. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

VIRGINIA M. HERNANDEZ COVINGTON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This cause comes before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment. Plaintiff Roca Labs, Inc. moves for partial summary judgment as to Counts I and II of the Amended Complaint, as well as to all eight affirmative defenses pled by Defendants Consumer Opinion and Opinion Corp. (Doc. # 172). Consumer Opinion and Opinion Corp. filed a joint response in opposition (Doc. # 187), and Roca filed a reply (Doc. # 194). Consumer Opinion and Opinion Corp. move for summary judgment on all claims brought against them by Roca. (Doc. ## 148, 173). Roca filed a response to both (Doc. ## 186, 189). Consumer Opinion and Opinion Corp. each filed a reply (Doc. ##192, 193). All cross-motions for summary judgment are now ripe for this Court’s review.

I. Background

This action was originally filed by Roca in the Circuit Court of the 12th Judicial Circuit, in and for Sarasota County, Florida on August 8, 2014. (Doc. # 1-1). Consumer Opinion Corp. and Opinion Corp. timely removed to this Court on August 26, 2014, on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. (Doc. # 1).

The Amended Complaint contains 11 counts. (Doc. # 114). The counts are listed below:

Count I: violation of FDUPTA against Consumer Opinion;
Count II: violation of FDUPTA against Opinion Corp.;
Count III: tortious interference with a contractual relationship against Consumer Opinion;
Count IV: tortious interference with a contractual relationship against Opinion Corp.;
Count V: tortious interference with prospective economic relationship against Consumer Opinion;
Count VI: tortious interference with prospective economic relationship against Opinion Corp.;
Count VII: defamation for statements on pissedconsumer.com against Consumer Opinion;
Count VIII: defamation for statements on pissedconsumer.com against Opinion Corp.;
Count IX: defamation for statements on Twitter against Consumer Opinion;
Count X: defamation for statements on Twitter against Opinion Corp.; and
Count XII:1 declaratory relief against Consumer Opinion and Opinion Corp.

(Doc. # 114).

Consumer Opinion2 and Opinion Corp. operate pissedconsumer.com. (Doc. ## 148 at 3; 186 at 9). Pissedconsumer.com is a website where third parties can make posts, i.e., comments, concerning their experiences with a product or service, as well as read others’ posts. (Doc. ## 114 at ¶ 28; 148-2 at ¶8). Pissedconsumer.com has a webpage just for Roca, which is [1315]*1315found at www.roca-labs.pissedconsumer. com. See (Doc. # 114 at ¶ 164). In addition to displaying the posts concerning Roca, the information contained from those posts is summarized into statistics. (Doc. ## 148-2 at ¶ 10; 189-2 at 208:1-209:18).

Based on the Amended Complaint and Consumer Opinion and Opinion Corp.’s Answer, it is undisputed that a third party must go through a multistep process to post on pissedconsumer.com. (Doc. ## 114 at ¶ 44; 117 at ¶ 44). In Step 1 the third party accesses pissedconsumer.com. (Doc. ##114 at ¶ 46; 117 at ¶46). In Step 2 the third party selects the “Submit Complaint” button. (Doc. ## 114 at ¶ 47; 117 at ¶ 47). In Step 3 the third party writes the post’s title and body. (Doc. ## 114 at ¶ 49; 117 at ¶49). In Step 4 the third party fills out additional information, such as contact information, whether she or he is “pissed” or “pleased,” the reason for being “pissed” or “pleased,” and the dollar amount of the loss suffered. (Doc. ## 114 at' ¶ 60; 117 at ¶ 50). The third party is free to pick “None of the above” when describing the reason for being “pissed” or “pleased” and may then describe the problem in her or his own words. (Doc. #114 at ¶ 50) (screenshots); (Doc. # 117 at ¶ 50). The final steps are’ all optional. (Doc. #114 at ¶¶ 51-53) (screenshots); (Doc. #117 at ¶¶ 51-53).

Furthermore, posts from pissedconsumer.com were posted to Twitter. (Doc. ## 148-2 at ¶¶ 11-13; 186-3 at 262, 282, 288-290; 189-2 at 262, 282, 288-290). Randomly selected posts from pissedcon-sumer.com were tweeted from a related Twitter page; the tweets contained a link to the related post on pissedconsumer.com. See (Doc. # 148-2 at ¶¶ 10-14); see also (Doc. # 186-3 at 288-290). Other than trimming the posts from pissedeonsumer.com in length to fit within Twitter’s 140 character limit, no substantive alterations were made to the posts-turned-tweet. (Doc. # 148-2 at ¶ 14).

To provide a sample of the complained of posts, such posts include: “This product sucks. It’s expensive, horrible to drink & doesn’t do nothing”; “This business is a total fraud. BEWARE!”; “Roca Labs— Got scammed and sick from this JUNK”; “The Company is full of lies and deceit”; and “Roca Labs — Don’t-buy anything from Roca Lab they just sell a regular shake they are stealing your money.” (Doc. #114 at ¶ 147). Some of the complained of tweets include: “@RocaLabs Don’t buy anything from Roca Labs they just sell a regular shake”; “Doesn’t Work!!! I can’t believe I really thought this would work! Save your money”; and “WILL NOT PROCESS PROMISED REFUND, LIED TO BY CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS REGARDING PROMISED REFUND.” (Doc. #114 at ¶ 154); see. also (Doc. # 114-1 at 39-75) (providing full list of complained of posts and tweets).

II. Legal Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as .a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). A factual dispute alone is not enough to defeat a properly pled motion for summary judgment; only the existence of a genuine issue of material fact will preclude a grant of summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

An issue is genuine if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party. Mize v. Jefferson City Bd. of Educ., 93 F.3d 739, 742 (11th Cir.1996) (citing Hairston v. Gainesville Sun Publ’g Co., 9 F.3d 913, 918 (11th Cir.1993)). A fact is material if it may affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law. Allen v. Tyson Foods, [1316]*1316Inc., 121 F.3d 642, 646 (11th Cir.1997). The moving party bears the initial burden of showing the court, by reference to materials on file, that there are no genuine issues of material fact that should be decided at, trial, Hickson Corp. v. N. Crossarm Co., Inc., 357 F.3d 1256, 1260 (11th Cir.2004) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett,

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Bluebook (online)
140 F. Supp. 3d 1311, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143107, 2015 WL 6437786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roca-labs-inc-v-consumer-opinion-corp-flmd-2015.