Jankovic v. International Crisis Group
| Decision Date | 01 May 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. CIVA104CV01198RBW.,CIVA104CV01198RBW. |
| Citation | 429 F.Supp.2d 165 |
| Parties | Milan JANKOVIC, also known as Philip Zepter, Fieldpoint B.V., and United Business Activities Holding, A.G., Plaintiffs, v. INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP and Does 1 through 10, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
William Thomas O'Brien, Bethesda, MD, Caroline H. Mankey, Ivana Ognjanovic, Peter C. Sheridan, Christensen Miller Fink Jacobs Glaser Weil & Shapiro, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, Lisa Michele Norrett, William T. O'Brien, McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP, Washington, DC, Malcolm I. Lewin, Morrison, Cohen, Singer & Weinstein, LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs.
Amy Lynn Neuhardt, Shearman & Sterling LLP, New York, NY, Jonathan L. Greenblatt, Shearman & Sterling, LLP, Washington, DC, for Defendants.
The plaintiffs bring this action alleging that the defendants committed defamation false light invasion of privacy, and tortious interference with business expectancy, by publishing knowingly false statements in the form of three separate documents. First Amended Complaint ("Compl.") ¶¶ 80-119. International Crisis Group ("Crisis Group"), one of the defendants, has filed a motion to dismiss or alternately to strike portions of the complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 12(f). International Crisis Group's Motion to Dismiss at 1. Currently before the Court are Crisis Group's Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss ("Def.'s Mem."), Plaintiffs' Joint Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss ( ), and Crisis Group's Reply Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss ("Def.'s Reply"). For the reasons set forth below, this Court grants the defendant's motion to dismiss.
The plaintiffs in this action are Milan Jankovic, also known as Philip Zepter ("Philip Zepter"), Fieldpoint B.V. ("Fieldpoint"), and United Business Activities Holding, A.G. ("United Business"). Philip Zepter is a Serbian businessman who founded the Zepter Group in 1984. Compl. ¶ 1. The Zepter Group is a collection of affiliated businesses which manufacture, distribute, and retail a wide range of consumer products throughout fifty countries. Id. Fieldpoint and United Business are both affiliated companies of the Zepter Group, organized under the laws of the Netherlands and Switzerland, respectively. Id. ¶¶ 1, 9-10.
The defendant, Crisis Group, is a nonprofit organization organized under the laws of the District of Columbia. Id. ¶ 11. It is funded by donors, both public and private, and regularly produces analytical reports which make recommendations on the subject of international policy. Id. ¶ 26-27.
Crisis Group produced the three documents at issue in this litigation. The first was a report published on March 18, 2003, entitled "Serbia After Djindjic" (hereinafter "Report 141"). Id. ¶ 45; Id. Ex. A. The second is an email sent by Crisis Group employee James Lyon on June 10, 2003, to then-Serbian Vice-President Zarko Korac ("Lyon Email"). Id. ¶ 67; Id. Ex. C. The third was a report published on July 17, 2003, entitled "Serbian Reform Stalls Again" (hereinafter "Report 145"). Id. ¶ 53; Id. Ex. B. These documents discuss the political climate of Serbia, and portions of them explicitly mention Philip Zepter and the Zepter Group. The plaintiffs allege that portions of these documents state that the plaintiffs, among other things, engaged in criminal activity, smuggled weapons to the terrorist group Al Qaeda, and had ties to a Serbian intelligence agency and the former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Pls.' Opp'n at 18-19.
Believing that Crisis Group was organized under the laws of Belgium, the plaintiffs sued Crisis Group in the Court of First Instance, Brussels, Belgium, in January 2004. Compl. ¶ 71. The plaintiffs based this belief on public representations made by Crisis Group. Id. In fact, although Crisis Group maintains a Belgian organized entity for administrative purposes only, that entity is not the one responsible for the publication of the three documents. Id. ¶ 72. The plaintiffs claim they first learned of this in the defendant's initial reply to the Belgian complaint, filed on June 18, 2004. Id. ¶ 72-73.
Realizing Belgium to be an improper forum, the plaintiffs filed their original complaint in this Court on July 15, 2004. See Original Complaint. In this litigation, the plaintiffs allege that they are defamed by the contents of the three abovementioned documents, and bring causes of action under theories of libel, false light invasion of privacy, and tortious interference with business expectancy. Compl. ¶¶ 80-119. Included as defendants are ten yet to be identified parties (Does 1 through 10), whose identity the plaintiffs intend to ascertain through discovery. Id. ¶ 13.
Crisis Group moves to dismiss the claims against it for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or alternately to strike portions of the complaint for the same reason, pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 12(f). International Crisis Group's Motion to Dismiss at 1. The defendant argues that the claims related to two of the three documents are barred by the statute of limitations, and that the statements in all three documents are not defamatory in nature as related to the plaintiffs.1 Def.'s Mem. at 8, 13, 15.
On a motion for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), this Court must view all allegations and facts in the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs and must grant the plaintiffs the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from those facts. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Barr. v. Clinton, 370 F.3d 1196, 1199 (D.C.Cir. 2004) (citing Kowal v. MCI Commc'ns Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994)). However, the Court need not accept inferences or conclusory allegations that are unsupported by the facts set forth in the complaint. Kowal, 16 F.3d at 1276. Only the facts alleged in the complaint, documents attached as exhibits, and matters about which the Court may take judicial notice can be considered. EEOC v. St. Francis Xavier Parochial Sch., 117 F.3d 621, 624-25 (D.C.Cir.1997). The Court will dismiss a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) only if the defendant can demonstrate "beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley, 355 U.S. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99.
On a motion to strike portions of a complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f), the Court must draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs' favor. Nwachukwu v. Karl, 216 F.R.D. 176, 178 (D.D.C.2003). Pursuant to Rule 12(f), the Court has discretion to strike "any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter in order to avoid the time, effort, and expense necessary to litigate spurious issues." Id. (citations omitted).
The defendant argues that the plaintiffs' claims regarding two of the three documents at issue (the Lyon Email and Report 141) are barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Def.'s Mem. at 8. The Court begins its analysis with a discussion ,of whether the statute of limitations was tolled by the defendant's misconduct or the plaintiffs' inability to file a timely claim. The Court will then proceed to an analysis of whether the allegedly defamatory statements are capable of defamatory meaning. The Court will conclude with a brief discussion of the claims of false light invasion of privacy and tortious interference with business expectancy and their reliance on defamatory statements.
The plaintiffs' defamation claims are subject to the District of Columbia's one-year statute of limitations. D.C.Code Ann. § 12-301(4) (2001). The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has strictly enforced this jurisdiction's statutes of limitations, even where "in individual cases, the rationale for the limitations doctrine will not be served, and a dismissal would frustrate the well-established preference for adjudicating cases on their merits." Sayyad v. Fawzi, 674 A.2d 905, 905 (D.C. 1996). Claims of false light invasion of privacy and tortious interference with business expectancy, for which there are no express limitation periods in the District of Columbia, are subject to the same statute of limitations when such causes of action are "intertwined" with a cause specified by the District of Columbia Code.2 Mittleman v. United States, 104 F.3d 410, 415 (D.C.Cir.1997) (citing Saunders v. Nemati, 580 A.2d 660, 661-62 (D.C.1990)) (additional citation omitted). Thus, these two causes of action are subject also to the one-year limitation period.
The parties do not dispute that both Report 141 and the Lyon Email were published more than one year prior to the filing of this action. Def.'s Mem. at 8; Pls.' Opp'n at 7. The defendant therefore argues that all claims arising from these documents are untimely. Def.'s Mem. at 8. The plaintiffs challenge the defendant's position on three separate grounds. First, the plaintiffs claim that the defendant, due to affirmative misconduct on its part, is estopped from claiming protection under the statute of limitations. Pls.' Opp'n at 7. Second, the plaintiffs claim that the defendant "lulled" them into not bringing this action in this jurisdiction until after the statute of limitations had expired. Id. at 7-8. Third, the plaintiffs claim that the statute was tolled by the inability of the plaintiffs to discover the proper identity of the defendant despite its due diligence to do so. Id. at 12. This Court will examine each of these arguments in turn.
The applicability of the doctrine of equitable estoppel is based on criteria "revolving around the conduct of the defendant . . . ." Chung v....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Adelson v. Harris
...be verified only via a sojourn to the library, the verification of a hyperlink is far from onerous. Cf. Jankovic v. Inter'l Crisis Grp., 429 F.Supp.2d 165, 177 n. 8 (D.D.C.2006) (noting that, even if the meaning of the allegedly defamatory statement was unclear, it was clarified by the “two......
-
Norman v. Borison
...require less stringent proof of a clear reference to an individual when the defamatory remarks are more severe. Jankovic v. Int'l Crisis Group, 429 F.Supp.2d 165, 175 (2006), aff'd in relevant part, 494 F.3d 1080. We begin our analysis by noting that Norman has not identified any defamatory......
-
Jankovic v. Int'l Crisis Grp.
...claims, concluding, inter alia, that the challenged passage was not capable of a defamatory meaning. Jankovic v. Int'l Crisis Grp., 429 F.Supp.2d 165, 178 (D.D.C.2006)aff'd in part, rev'd in part and remanded, 494 F.3d 1080 (D.C.Cir.2007). On appeal, the District of Columbia Circuit partial......
-
Jankovic v. International Crisis Group
...as to Report 141 and the Lyon email and that the claims related to Report 145 failed as a matter of law. See Jankovic v. Int'l Crisis Group, 429 F.Supp.2d 165 (D.D.C.2006). II. Zepter first contends that the district court erred by dismissing the complaint for want of subject-matter jurisdi......