Seyfarth Wins Dismissal of Class Action Complaint Against LexisNexis

CHICAGO (March 2, 2015) – Seyfarth Shaw LLP successfully defended Reed Elsevier Inc., owner and operator of LexisNexis Martindale Hubbell, Lawyers.com, Attorneys.com and LawyerLocator, against a putative class action filed in the Eastern District of Oklahoma. The lawsuit arises out of pop-up advertisements for legal services that appear on two plaintiff law firms’ websites based in Oklahoma and Tennessee.  

 

In the complaint, plaintiffs claimed three distinct causes of action against Reed: violations of the Lanham Act; tortious interference with prospective advantage under Oklahoma and Tennessee law; and civil conspiracy. After conducting a thorough analysis of the relationship amongst the co-defendants and understanding the limited role played by LexisNexis in the issues raised, Seyfarth filed a motion to dismiss attacking the legal sufficiency of the pleading and making clear that, given Lexis’ limited role, there was no set of facts which would subject Lexis to liability under the stated claims. In the March 2nd order, United States District Judge James H. Payne declared that the complaint failed to state these claims and the motion to dismiss was granted in its entirety. The Lanham Act claim, alleging that the pop-up advertisements constituted “use” within the meaning of the Act, was an issue of first impression for the Tenth Circuit. Importantly, the district court judge found that the pop-up advertisements at issue did not constitute “use” within the meaning of the Lanham Act because “it appears in a separate window and does not divert or misdirect consumers away from Plaintiffs’ website.” 

 

The Seyfarth Litigation team was led by Chicago partner Jason Stiehl and included associates Kristine Argentine and Jordan Vick in Chicago.

 

Contacts:

Brian Kiefer, Director of Public Relations
(312) 460-6401, bkiefer@seyfarth.com

Martin Grego, Public Relations Manager
(312) 460-6659, mgrego@seyfarth.com