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Florence Reminder Blade Tribune > Top Stories
Curis sues to stop defamatory online posts
By MARK COWLING
Editor
Published: Thursday, June 14, 2012 4:09 AM MST
Curis Resources has filed suit in Canada against an Internet message board user, claiming defamatory and false posts by the unknown person(s) using the screen name “erinG” caused their stock price to drop.
The notice of civil claim, filed May 31 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver, cites a total of five message board posts by “erinG” on May 7, May 8 and May 24 on the website
stockhouse.com.
Another site, stockwatch.com, reported last week the stock had fallen to 66 cents on the date of the final post, down from 90 cents the last trading day before the posts began. The stock was selling for 60 cents on Tuesday. Curis, based in Vancouver, lists its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CUV.
The suit says the posts appear designed to injure Curis at a critical time:
“Curis has suffered special damages as a result of the posts, as the posts contributed to an approximately 27 percent decrease in the price of Curis’ shares, resulting in higher costs of capital in both equity markets and debt markets for Curis at a time when it is raising capital to start operations at the [Florence Copper] Project.”
The suit seeks a permanent injunction stopping the defendants “and their servants or agents or otherwise” from defaming Curis with false statements; general and special damages; aggravated and punitive damages; costs or special costs; and other relief the court may deem just.
Curis President and CEO Michael McPhie commented to the Florence Reminder this week: “We have a responsibility to protect Curis Resources, its shareholders, partners and employees from any individual or organization deliberately spreading false and misleading information in an attempt to materially harm the company and devalue its assets.”
The message board posts cited in the suit claim that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has twice “rejected” Curis’ application for an aquifer protection permit (APP). ADEQ was scheduled to host a public meeting on Curis’ application for a temporary APP in Florence last night after press time.
Another post states Curis’ application for this temporary permit “has also been rejected.” A later post further asserts “t is a public record.”
These posts were made at the same time Curis was reporting, “Curis is well advanced in discussions with ADEQ and expects to receive a Phase 1 operating permit for the Florence Copper project in the coming weeks.”
Stockhouse, where the posts appeared, is an online community for stock market news. Users may post comments relating to publicly-traded companies, using Internet pseudonyms. “ErinG” wasn’t posting Tuesday afternoon, but others were commenting on the litigation.
“Hopefully we will find out the truth one day,” A poster going by the name “nofluff” wrote. ”I totally believe that the companies that are suing bb posters are telling the world that there [sic] companies [sic] value hinge on the uneducated investor. If this is true then where are the educated investors. Somewhere better?”
The suit asserts that “erinG’s” posts “were false or, in the alternative, false or misleading in a material respect. The posts were, both individually and taken as a whole, grossly defamatory of Curis.
“... Curis has been seriously injured in its character, credit and reputation and has suffered loss or damage.”
Curis reported last month that it had applied to the ADEQ for an APP for its Phase 1 production test of the Florence Copper Project on March 1. Curis received comments back on this application in a letter from ADEQ on May 2. Curis is in the process of addressing all of the items listed in the May 2 letter, the company said.
“We have developed a strong working relationship with all of the regulatory agencies responsible for reviewing Curis’ amended permit applications,” Dan Johnson, Curis’ vice president of environment and technical services, said last month in a company statement. “We have appreciated the professional approach and consideration shown for Florence Copper by both the state of Arizona and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and look forward to completing the next phase of project permitting in the weeks and months ahead.”
The lawsuit claims that meanwhile, “defendants repeatedly and maliciously published ... untrue statements concerning the plaintiff’s business that have harmed its reputation and caused it to suffer damages. The defamatory statements ... included false allegations that the plaintiff had been twice denied a permit to develop their principal mining project.”
Curis cites the following in the suit in support of punitive damages:
“• Each and every one of the posts was either known by the defendants to be false, or was made recklessly, without regard to whether it was true or false;
“• Each and every one of the posts was made with malice, spite, ill will, and was calculated to disparage Curis in its chosen business, to damage Curis’ reputation in the community, and to lower Curis in the mind of right-thinking members of society, and did in fact have these intended effects;
“• Each and every one of the posts was published in a forum known by the defendants to be visited in particular by persons with a financial interest in Curis;
“• Each and every one of the posts was made for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, a business interest and was calculated to benefit the defendants.”
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