Kimberley Hoff 28 Sep 2012 PAR116 Defamation assignment (This is based on an incident of defamation my best friend suffered during

a child custody dispute.) IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, IN AND FOR SANTA CLARA COUNTY

FELICE ENG, an individual, Plaintiff, v. CHRISTOPHER GHIARDI, an individual, Defendant, _____________________________/ COMPLAINT

Case No.: 867-5309

Plaintiff FELICE ENG, by and through the undersigned counsel, hereby file their Complaint against Defendant CHRISTOPHER GHIARDI, an individual, and in support thereof states as follows: JURISDICTION AND PARTIES 1. This is an action for damages and injunctive relief in excess of the jurisdictional minimum of this Court, exclusive of interest and costs, based on the intentional publication of false Statements about Plaintiff to various third parties by Defendants. 2. Plaintiff Felice ENG (ENG) is an individual residing in San Mateo, CA and is subject to the jurisdiction of this court. 3. Defendant Christopher GHIARDI (GHIARDI) is an individual residing in San Mateo, CA and is subject to the jurisdiction of this court. Defendant committed and continues to commit a tort in California by publishing false and defamatory information in family court filing about Plaintiff,

directed at California and causing injury in Califonia that gives rise to a potential claim cognizable in California. 4. Venue is proper pursuant to 85, California Code of Civil Procedure, because the cause of action arose and accrued in this judicial district, where both parties reside, where the publication of defamatory Statements at issue took place, and where ENG suffered damages from Defendants tortious conduct as a result of said publication. 5. Defendant intentionally and/or recklessly published defamatory information and clearly directed said information at Plaintiff in California, via their court filings, resulting in significant injury and harm to Plaintiffs and their reputation. The bulk, if not all of the harm has occurred and will continue to occur in California. 6. All conditions precedent to bringing this action have occurred, been waived, excused, or satisfied. GENERAL ALLEGATIONS I. ENG and Defendant GHIARDI

7. Plaintiff and Defendant divorced after a marriage of 10 years on July 1, 2008. The marriage produced two minor children, Courage and Justice, who are in the joint custody of Plaintiff and Defendant and reside for school purposes with the Plaintiff, their mother. 8. Plaintiff maintains a personal blog via the LiveJournal web service where she publishes journal entries and pictures relating to her everyday life, including pictures of costumes she has constructed for herself and the minor children and drawings she has made, for personal entertainment and for the enjoyment of a group of friends and fellow-users of the service. 9. Some of the postings made on ENGs blog are of a somewhat erotic nature, involving fictional characters engaged in romantic or sexual acts. Most of these postings are locked and viewable only by authorized fellow-users of LiveJournal.

10. Other postings, which are always separate from postings of an erotic nature, include pictures of the minor children, often in costume as TV or comic book characters for Halloween or for dressup play, that were taken with the childrens consent and involve no adult content. The costumes were made by Plaintiff on the childrens request, of characters that they know and love. The children know that Plaintiff maintains this blog and have been warned that there is locked content that is not intended for their consumption. The children agreed not to seek out the locked content. 11. On or about August 1, 2009, Defendant submitted a filing to the Santa Clara County Family Court seeking immediate sole custody of the minor children, on grounds of supposed danger to them posed by images posted on Plaintiffs LiveJournal blog. A. Defendants Actual Malice Directed At Plaintiff 12. After the dissolution of Plaintiff and Defendants marriage, Defendant has repeatedly complained verbally and in writing about the burden imposed by court-ordered alimony and child support payments, stating in or around November 2008 that he has zero money and that Plaintiff is taking[his] whole paycheck and demanding in December 2008 documentation showing that she is using the child support allocation solely for purchases intended exclusively for the children. 13. Defendant has also repeatedly accused Plaintiff of turning the boys against me when the children complain about his behavior or the rules he imposes when they are under his care, particularly in or around January 2009. B. False Statements About and Concerning Plaintiff ENG 14. On or about August 1, 2009, Defendant submitted a filing to the Santa Clara County Family Court seeking immediate sole custody of the minor children, alleging that there was a potential danger to them posed by images posted on Plaintiffs LiveJournal blog and making numerous false and

defamatory Statements of and concerning ENG. The length of the complaint document was well over 50 pages, much of it consisting of printouts of pages from the blog and senseless repetition of allegations without supporting evidence, rendering the recitation of each and every false statement impractical and redundant. Accordingly, the following is a sample of the many false and defamatory Statements published by the Defendant (the following shall be herein referred to as the Statements) and the full text of the filing is attached hereto as Exhibit A: (a) She dresses the children up as her fantasy characters and has them act out love scenes. (b) Her online friends are perverts who like gay porn and the pictures are posted online for them to get excited over. (c) She has gay male friends who come over to the house regularly and may be interested in taking advantage of the children sexually. (d) She participates in BDSM and tells the children about the things she does. 15. At the time Defendant published the Statements, Defendant knew the Statements and the defamatory meanings and implications of those statements were false, acted with reckless disregard for the truth by publishing those Statements, and published the Statements with actual malice. 16. Defendant intended to injure and has injured ENGs reputation by publishing these statements. 17. As a direct and proximate result of the publication of the Statements by the Defendant, ENG has suffered substantial damages, including by not limited to pecuniary loss due to needless litigation costs and lost work opportunity, mental distress caused by the threat of losing custody of her children, and injury to reputation.

18. Further, because the Statements impute criminal conduct, the Statements are libelous and defamatory per se; accordingly, pursuant to California law, ENG is presumed to have been damaged by the Statements. 19. The false and defamatory Statements are not privileged and ENG did not consent to the publication or dissemination of the Statements. COUNT I - DEFAMATION BY DEFENDANT CHRISTOPHER GHIARDI 20. This is an action against Defendant GHIARDI for defamation seeking equitable relief and damages in excess of $1,000. 21. Defendant GHIARDI made and published false and defamatory Statements of and concerning ENG, with the knowledge that the Statements were false, with reckless disregard for the truth of the Statements, and with actual malice and the intent to injure ENGs reputation. 22. As a direct and proximate result of the publication of the statements by Defendant GHIARDI, ENG has suffered substantial damages, including but not limited to pecuniary loss and injury to reputation. 23. Moreover, because the Statements impute criminal conduct, they are libelous and defamatory per se and ENG is presumed to have been damaged by the Statements. WHEREFORE, the Plaintiff FELICE ENG, an individual residing in San Mateo, CA demands judgment against Defendant CHRISTOPHER GHIARDI for damages, costs, interest, and such other and further relief as the Court deems appropriate.