PHILADELPHIA – A Bucks County man and fencing instruction facility owner alleges he was defamed by the MyLife.com website, claiming that its promise to subscribers to reveal damaging legal information about him was shown to be false.
Mark Holbrow of New Hope filed suit in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 3 versus MyLife.com, Inc., of Los Angeles, Calif.
Holbrow is the owner and operator of the Bucks County Academy of Fencing, an athletic facility which has provided lessons and competitive training in the sport of fencing to all ages, particularly children. It was said the plaintiff substantially relies on his reputation for personal and business development.
The defendant sells consumer background reports through their website, www.mylife.com. The website allows users to run free background searches for an individual’s name, and then displaying search results that imply, often falsely, according to the plaintiff, that the subject of a search may have records of criminal or sexual offenses – records the plaintiffs says which “can conveniently be viewed only by purchasing a MyLife subscription.”
“On Jan. 22, 2021, plaintiff ‘Googled himself’ and discovered his name listed at www.mylife.com. He followed up by clicking on the publicly available link and discovered to his horror that the website unequivocally states the following concerning him, which is false: ‘Criminal or civil court records found on Mark’s background report,” the suit states.
“Detailed information beyond this label could only be obtained by purchasing a subscription. The subscription page invites the viewer to ‘Get instant information on Mark now!’ and states further that there are one or more ‘Incarceration and Public Records.”
The suit adds that once a person subscribes to the website, the news is revealed as follows: “Good news! After scanning the web and government sources, we did not find any negative information about Mark Holbrow. The background report you pulled has no derogatory entries. Specifically, concerning ‘Criminal and Court Records’, the website stated that no arrest or criminal records were found.”
“The detailed report further provides plaintiff’s home address, his age, his home telephone number, his race, his registered political affiliation and his religious affiliation, the last two of which are incorrect. It also includes his associates, his reported annual income and his net worth. The report further confirms that the defendant’s ‘reputation profile’ indicates ‘no criminal or civil court records, lawsuits, liens or negative reviews’, contrary to what it stated in its publicly available teaser,” per the suit.
“Defendant therefore knew or should have known based on its own information that its public statement, ‘Criminal or civil court records found on Mark’s background report’ was false.”
Counsel for MyLife.com filed to remove the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Feb. 23, citing complete diversity of jurisdiction and an indication that the amount in controversy exceeds the federal court threshold of $75,000.
For counts of defamation, defamation per se and invasion of privacy, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $50,000.
The plaintiff is represented by Andrew D. Cotlar of the Law Office of Steven A. Cotlar, in Doylestown.
The defendant is represented by Jordan M. Rand of Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:21-cv-00819
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas case 2021-00634
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com