Court grants Oversee.net’s Motion to Dismiss several claims brought by former employee Monte Cahn.
A U.S. District Court has granted Oversee.net’s latest motion to dismiss in a lawsuit brought by former employee and Moniker founder Monte Cahn (pdf).
Oversee.net had requested the court to dimiss a number of claims in Cahn’s second ammended complaint against the company. Oversee.net says the claims were merely rehashes of previous claims the court dismissed.
With regards to Cahn’s Fifth Claim for Fraud, in which he argued “Ng and Kupietzky knew that Oversee had a contract with Google that would render it impossible for TrafficClub to continue to operate in the same manner after the merger”, the court said Cahn did not provide enough information in his complaint:
However, Plaintiff’ fails to identify what, exactly TrafficClub is, how the alleged contract between Oversee and Google was inconsistent with TrafficClub’s business model and operations or how, and to what extent, that alleged inconsistency would impact Plaintiff’s ability to achieve the performance incentives under the MIP. Therefore, while the Court does not opine on whether a further amended claim would satisfy the requirements of Rule 9(b), the Court believes that dismissal without prejudice is appropriate.
In other words, Cahn needs to provide more details if he wants this to stick.
Cahn’s Sixth Claim for Conversion, in which he says Oversee.net took some of his domain names, was dismissed under the statute of limitations.
Cahn also had a seventh claim for conversion, in which he says he was locked out of his personal account at Moniker over the summer for a limited time. This was also dismissed. Since Cahn now has access to the domains, the court ruled this claim is simply one for money.
The court also threw out a claim for punitive damages since it dismissed the claim for fraud.
Since the claims were dismissed without prejudice, don’t be surprised if Cahn responds with further arguments.
Domainer Extraordinaire says
Monte is pissing money away.
Louise says
It will be really interesting to find out more about Ng & Kupietzky’s contract with Google, and what TrafficClub is or actually was. What WAS TrafficClub’s “business model and operations?” Lots of interesting and fun stuff could come out of this lawsuit. The court leaves it open for Monte Cahn to come back and elaborate on the business model for TrafficClub – hope he does! For entertainment’s value.
What “statute of limitations” affects a dispute over stolen domain names? Did Monte Cahn allow that to slide while he was still working there?
If you want to prove fraud, you have to prove that the defendant misrepresented himself. It’s not so easy to do. I’d like to understand the basis of this lawsuit.
Web Hosting says
So it’s ended finally..
Sad I-s says
Monte should hire a lawyer
A real one
Andrew Allemann says
I wouldn’t assume Monte has to pay out of pocket for this suit. It could be contingency.
I have no idea — no inside info. Just wouldn’t assume it.