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RegisterFly Class Action Lawsuit Developments March 1, 2007 - March 31, 2007
March 29th, 2007
ICANN finally files suit in California, and asks the Court there to grant a TRO for the exact same things which ICANN refused to consent to here in North Carolina two weeks earlier. However, the Court in California has not ruled on ICANN's request for an emergency restraining order as of yet.
Sunday March 25th 2007
While GoCertfy.com and several other of her domains are still held hostage by RegisterFly, several of Anne's domain name transfer requests eventually did go through to GoDaddy.com.
Saturday March 24th 2007
Attempts to transfer domains remain unsuccessful.
Friday March 23rd 2007
Anne unsuccessfully continues her attempts to release her domains from RegisterFly.
Thursday March 22nd 2007
Plaintiff, waiting for word from the court, decided that the time delays were becoming a great risk of harm because her most important domain name has now passed what RegisterFly states is its renewal date of March 18th 2007. Due to the possibility of RegisterFly cutting off her site through lapse of time and because assurances by ICANN to protect RegisterFly domain holders in the past have proved unreliable, the imminent loss of the domain has become a greater risk than the possibility of vindictive action by Medina. Consequently, before the 1:00 pm deadline, Plaintiff's counsel filed partial objections to Judge Sharp's recommendations and requested that the case be unsealed pending an expedited hearing for a Preliminary Injunction with Kevin Medina present. Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction requests the Court to Order RegisterFly and Medina to turn over the full data escrow required by RegisterFly's RAA with ICANN in Paragraph 3.2.3 Plaintiff also filed a Brief in support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction, laying out the legal reasons that both Anne Martinez and the class of people similarly situated are entitled to an immediate injunction ordering ICANN and RegisterFly (and Medina) to comply with the RegisterFly's RAA and with the requirement that registrants such as Anne, who have registered through RegisterFly, be immediately allowed to transfer their domain name registrations elsewhere. Plaintiff filed an Affidavit by James Smith in support of Preliminary Injunction.
Wednesday March 21, 2007
Federal Magistrate Judge Trevor Sharp files his recommendation to Judge Osteen, proposing that while the Plaintiff stands a great likelihood of success on the merits of the complaint, she has only shown one instance of proof that Medina has acted vindictively, and thus recommends to Judge Osteen that there is not sufficient justification for issuing any Order against RegisterFly and Medina without them at least being present in Court. Judge Sharp's Order and recommendations gave both the plaintiff and ICANN until 1:00 on Thursday March 22nd 2007 to file objections to the recommendations made to Judge Osteen.
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Federal Magistrate Judge Trevor Sharp holds a sealed hearing with the attorneys Samantha Eisner and Phil Mohr present for ICANN and Mr. Dummit representing Anne Martinez and others similarly situated. ICANN files documents arguing that they are not subject to the Jurisdiction of the Courts of North Carolina.
Monday March 19, 2007
Plaintiff files supplemental affidavits clarifying that Anne Martinez never paid for, or requested that her ownership be hidden by "ProtectFly," making it clearer to the Court that her ownership information on several domains being eradicated and replaced with RegisterFly information was not authorized. Plaintiff also filed a request for Class Certification, requesting that the Court certify this case as a Class Action so that we can protect others similarly situated with the preliminary Orders being requested, rather than just protecting Anne Martinez.
Friday March 16th 2007
After receiving notice that they are named in the lawsuit, ICANN finally acts to terminate RegisterFly's accreditation, an act that, according to ICANN's own rules, should have been done long ago. See March 16th 2007 letter to RegisterFly. Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN and ICANN still refuse to take the steps which they promised the public that they would take weeks earlier: namely of getting the Court to grant a TRO. Dr. Paul Twomey, was quoted as saying: "Terminating accreditation is the strongest measure ICANN is able to take against RegisterFly under its powers. ICANN has been frustrated and distressed by recent management confusion inside RegisterFly. Completely understand the greater frustration and enormous difficulty that this has created for registrants."ICANN refers the matter to their attorneys Jeffrey A. LeVee and Samantha Eisner at Jones Day, and Jones Day, affiliate Phil Mohr or the North Carolina Law Firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.
Thursday March 15th 2007
Federal Magistrate Judge Trevor Sharp issues an Order under seal, directing Plaintiff's Counsel, Clarke Dummit, to immediately notify ICANN of the suit and give a copy of all filed documents to ICANN, and Orders that ICANN keep all knowledge of the Suit under Seal, so that no data will get destroyed pending a full hearing. The Judge sets an emergency hearing for March 20th 2007 in a sealed court room in Greensboro North Carolina to allow ICANN to be present and update the Court, and to ask ICANN to give recommendations to the Court regarding the appropriateness of an ex parte TRO, and recommendations of how to protect the public from the worsening situation at RegisterFly. Attorney Dummit calls ICANN and gives them notice per the sealed Order, and electronically sends copies of the filings.
Wednesday March 14, 2007
Federal Magistrate Judge Trevor Sharp holds a sealed hearing on Plaintiff Anne Martinez's request for an ex parte TRO "Temporary Restraining Order" with only Anne Martinez's Attorney Clarke Dummit present. Judge sharp reports that he will issue a ruling within the next few days.
Tuesday March 13, 2007
ICANN knows, or should know, that they have incomplete data from RegisterFly, but ICANN once again decides not take the necessary action to protect the public, and does NOT file for the TRO as they have promised. (see Smith's Affidavit in support of Injunction) In fear of losing a domain name that supports her and her children, Anne Martinez gives up on ICANN protecting her and others like her, and has the Dummit Law Firm file a sealed Class Action lawsuit against RegisterFly, Medina, ICANN, et al. on behalf of herself and others similarly situated. The Court puts the matter under Seal due to the possibility that Medina or RegisterFly may vindictively harm Anne and others whose domains are being held hostage. The Dummit Law Firm files a Motion for an emergency TRO "Temporary Restraining Order" against RegisterFly, Medina, and ICANN in an effort to protect the registration data from untoward manipulation or destruction. Federal Judge William L. Osteen refers the case to Federal Magistrate Judge Trevor Sharp for an emergency hearing on the TRO "Temporary Restraining Order" to be set the next morning.
Monday March 12th 2007
After repeated demands from ICANN and the threat of ICANN actually going to court the next day for a TRO "Temporary Restraining Order," RegisterFly once again delivers data for escrow with ICANN to protect the public, and once again, this data is grossly incomplete. ICANN knew or should have known that the data escrow was incomplete within hours of receiving it since it was turned over pursuant to RAA 3.2.3 in a format which ICANN had prescribed. Yet ICANN again refuses to protect the public. The Dummit Law Firm Team continues to work night and day to prepare this complex case for immediate filing if ICANN again does not act to protect Anne and others similarly situated.
Sunday March 11th 2007
The Dummit Law Firm Team works night and day to prepare this complex case for immediate litigation.
Saturday March 10th 2007
Anne Martinez meets extensively with a Litigation team from The Dummit Law Firm, and begins to put together this Class Action lawsuit in an extremely compressed time period.
Friday March 9th 2007
Anne Martinez contacts The Dummit Law Firm for help.
Thursday March 8th 2007
ICANN admits publicly that it did not get the true and complete data it needed to protect the public: "It should be noted that a significant percentage of the data obtained are cases where customer information is hidden via a privacy service (in this case known as "ProtectFly"). We have provided additional questions to RegisterFly regarding how that data can be maintained in a manner that would permit access in the event that RegisterFly remains unable to fulfill its role as a registrar. If a name is hidden through a service of this kind, it is possible that no one aside from the provider of the privacy service can identify the customer, therefore data escrow may be insufficient for ICANN to protect that data." In spite of the fact that ICANN has not done its job, is getting manipulated and lied to by RegisterFly, and has admitted that it has not and cannot protect the public, ICANN pats itself on the back: "But it appears ICANN is in possession of the vast majority of registrant data (a potentially significant step toward the protection of registrants in the case of RegisterFly business failure or de-accreditation under the terms of the RAA)." Meanwhile, the registration period for one of the domain names Anne has been unable to move or renew, SearchCertification.com, expires. Meanwhile, New Jersey Judge Peter Sheridan handed down a new Order putting Medina back in charge of the hen house.
Wednesday March 7th 2007
Medina files his Answer and Counterclaim in the shareholder's fight in New Jersey and managed to prove to the Court that Naruszewicz had not paid for his stock, and thus Medina was the only true owner of the company.
Tuesday March 6th 2007
True to its past practices, ICANN again, did not enforce the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) it had with RegisterFly. ICANN went back on its pledge to the public, and specificaly those like Anne Martinez who were trapped at RegisterFly, and did not file for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against RegisterFly. RegisterFly's website went offline for a time, causing serious concern amongst registrant customers of RegisterFly.
Monday March 5th 2007
RegisterFly turned over little to no data in response to ICANN's demand because they knew ICANN had never acted in the past and would not actually do anything now.
Sunday March 4th 2007
On Sunday, March 4, 2007, ICANN announced it would file suit against RegisterFly in United States Federal Court in two days (March 6th 2007) for failing to comply with an audit as required by their Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). However, ICANN failed to file any lawsuit after RegisterFly provided ICANN with minimum, incomplete registrant information. ICANN also convinced several top-level domain registries who administer the .com, .net, .biz and .info namespaces, including VeriSign, NeuStar and Afilias to restrict pending-expiration Registerfly domains into a so-called "Server-Delete-Prohibited" status. ICANN stated, "This will prevent them from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others."
Saturday March 3rd 2007
Anne began to research the RegisterFly situation on the Internet and quickly found that there were many more people in situations similar to her own, including many who sustained substantial, irreparable harm through the loss of their domain names, wrongful billing, and other iniquities. She also found a Web site dedicated to the debacle: RegisterFlies.com. This site has apparently been a source of support and suggestions as to how RegisterFly victims could rescue their domains for some time, but was unable to help Anne recover GoCertify.com.
Friday March 2nd 2007
When Anne Martinez found she could not transfer her domain names out of RegisterFly, she also discovered that the ownership information for many of her domains had been altered to that of RegisterFly, including the administrative email address used by a new registrar to confirm a transfer request. One domain had been assigned to a third party that Anne had never even heard of. Thus it was impossible for Anne to reply to a request to verify the transfer, because she would never receive the request. Anne decided her best route was to simply try to renew her domains within RegisterFly to protect her from losing her names, even though the renewal process at RegisterFly had been a challenge in the past. She completed this through the customer interface, but due to website performance issues, it was not completely clear whether the updates went through. While, RegisterFly, through its parent company, Hosting Services Group Inc., charged Anne Martinez's credit card $26.97 for the renewal of several of her domain names, no renewal is logged on her domains. Meanwhile, unknown to Anne Martinez New Jersey District Judge Peter Sheridan handed down a an Order preventing Medina from accessing any RegisterFly corporate funds, but not stopping the company from taking Anne's and other unsuspecting victims money that very day. Thursday March 1st 2007 Anne Martinez received an email notice from RegisterFly stating that domain renewals were due for GoCertify.com and other of her domains, and that GoCertify.com would expire on March 18, 2007 if not renewed. Concerned about losing her domain names, Anne attempts to transfer several of her domain names out of RegisterFly to GoDaddy.com. Due to increasing customer support issues at RegisterFly, she has been following a policy of transferring out her RegisterFly names as they become due for renewal. GoDaddy.com bills her credit card $22.64 for the transfers, but she is later sent a notice that the domain names will not be released by RegisterFly. Later, GoDaddy refunds the charges. |
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