Date: 12-21-2000

Case Style: Dr. Sam D. Graham Jr. v. Dr. Jonathan R. Oppenheimer, et al.

Case Number: 3:00-cv-57

Judge: Richard L. Williams

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Plaintiff's Attorney: D. Alan Rudlin of Hunton & Williams, Richmond, Virginia

Defendant's Attorney: William V. Riggenbach of Duane and Shannon, P.C. for Prost-Data Inc.

Dr. Oppenheimer represented himself.

Description: Defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims relating to allegedly false statements made by the defendant about the plaintiff published in an anonymous Internet message.

According to the plaintiff, he resigned from his job at Emory in July 1998 to move to Richmond and enter private practice. On Feb. 7, 1999, the following message appeared on a Yahoo message board devoted to information about Urocor Inc., which operates a pathology lab in Oklahoma City: "Sam Graham, MD used to be the Department Chair of Urology at Emory Clinic in Atlanta. UroCor decided to underbid the Emory Pathology Department for pathology services and give Graham a cut of the money it got from doing the pathology. This worked well until the poor SOB got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Poor guy had to resign his prestigious position." The message was signed by "fbiinformant."

Oppenheimer conceded that he wrote the February 7 message, that it pertained to Dr. Graham and that Dr. Graham was not forced to resign from Emory. His defense was that he relied upon information supplied by a third party and believed online statements by him on a Yahoo message board on the Internet were true at the time he made them.

Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $675,000.

Plaintiff's Experts: None

Defendant's Experts: None

Comments: This case was tried in October and Defendants' post trial motions were denied by the Court. Dr. Oppenheimer was reported to have said that he intended to appeal because the judgment against him would ruin him.