Press Release Details Anne Martinez v RegisterFly, ICANN et. al. filed by Attorney E. Clarke Dummit against Internet domain Registrar, RegisterFly
www.registerfly-lawsuit.com/ have released the following comment on the current legal situation:
An Order by U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen was released, unsealing a class action lawsuit (Anne Martinez v RegisterFly, ICANN et. al.) filed by Attorney E. Clarke Dummit against Internet domain Registrar, RegisterFly, and the corporation charged with accreditation and oversight of Registrars, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). The lawsuit alleges that RegisterFly systematically defrauded its customers who attempted to register or renew Internet domain names. Anne Martinez has brought the suit as a class action on her own behalf and for the thousands who are still being harmed by RegisterFly and ICANN. To get up to date information about the Class Action visit www.registerfly-lawsuit.com When it was filed March 13th, 2007 the lawsuit was placed under seal because it alleged that RegisterFly owner Kevin Medina had acted vindictively toward domain name owners, or registrants, in the past when registrants complained about RegisterFly's service. While the case was under seal, the Court heard arguments from ICANN as to whether ICANN could protect registrants from RegisterFly.
Although ICANN alleged that Medina, the sole owner of RegisterFly, acted vindictively towards registrants in the past, and ICANN has publicly stated that it could not protect the victims, the Court unsealed the lawsuit and granted Medina and RegisterFly the opportunity to be heard on the Plaintiffs' motion for an Injunction Ordering RegisterFly to provide the Plaintiffs with the information necessary to transfer their domain names, and ordering that RegisterFly immediately provide the data to ICANN to protect existing domain registrations from permanent loss.
RegisterFly.com, Inc. is an ICANN accredited domain Registrar that is able to directly register domain names worldwide. According to RegisterFly's website, it is one of the ten largest internet domain name Registrars, boasting a client list that includes the Government of Thailand, Michael Jackson, and the Easter Seals Charity. ICANN is a non-profit corporation that is charged by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the international community with accrediting Registrars and governing the registration of domain names and use of Internet Protocol Addresses (IP Addresses).
As per the lawsuit, many of RegisterFly's nearly one million customers are in immediate danger of losing their domain names and more than 75,000 individuals have already lost domain names registered through RegisterFly.
In the complaint and subsequent filings, attorney Dummit has alleged that ICANN had full knowledge of RegisterFly's fraudulent activities for over a year and took no substantive action until the lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit maintains that ICANN profited from RegisterFly's use of its accreditation and posting of ICANN's logo on the site, but ICANN failed to enforce the terms of the contract RegisterFly customers relied on when registering domains. The day after attorney Dummit served ICANN with this class action lawsuit, ICANN finally gave notice of termination of ICANN's accreditation of RegisterFly. Lead Plaintiff, Anne Martinez, has expressed her fear that Medina may shut down her website www.goCertify.com, which is the sole source of support for her and her children. Ms. Martinez explained her apprehension and irritation, stating "if Medina illegally shuts down my registration, I could end up losing my business and my home. Unfortunately, it does not appear as if ICANN cares or will do anything to help the thousands of people out there just like me. It seems that after ICANN found out about this lawsuit, it decided to protect its own image, but not to help the many registrants facing the loss of their domains and businesses."
Referring to a March 26, 2007 "fact sheet" published by ICANN that claims, among other things, that "ICANN has never approved RegisterFly as an accredited registrar," a frustrated Martinez said, "[e]ven today, while thousands of us are still trying desperately to get our domains protected, ICANN is spending time and energies on spin rather than enforcement."
Like many others, Martinez has made multiple attempts to transfer the domain names she registered through RegisterFly to other Registrars. However, RegisterFly and Medina have locked her and thousands of others' access to the name registration in an apparent attempt to keep customers hostage during an unrelated lawsuit, disputing ownership of RegisterFly. In an unrelated lawsuit filed February 12, 2007 in New Jersey Federal District Court, former RegisterFly CEO, John Naruszewicz, indicated that he was Kevin Medina's former lover and that they had a falling out over the mismanagement of RegisterFly. After firing Medina from his position as CEO, Naruszewicz filed suit against Medina - based on Naruszewicz's asserted fifty percent ownership of RegisterFly - seeking legal control of RegisterFly. Naruszewicz alleged in his lawsuit that Medina misused company funds, precluding RegisterFly from paying registration fees to keep its customers' registrations valid.
Additionally, Naruszewicz claimed that Medina deleted passwords and locked customer billing information to prevent the issuance of refunds. Among the alleged misuses of company money were:
$27,000 for an escort service; $6,000 for a liposuction procedure; $10,000 a month for a penthouse apartment in Miami, Florida; and $6,000 for a Chihuahua dog. New Jersey Court documents claimed that the misappropriation of company funds directly caused the loss of 75,000 customer domain names, in January alone, due to RegisterFly's inability to pay registration fees. In his counterclaim, Medina claimed that his ex-lover Naruszewicz spent $60,000 of company money on Moroccan furniture and down payments on a Florida home.
The New Jersey Court determined that Naruszewicz did not actually own fifty percent of RegisterFly because Medina successfully demonstrated that Naruszewicz had not paid for his stock. Therefore, on March 8th, the Judge in New Jersey put Medina back in full control of RegisterFly.
RegisterFly acted as a domain name reseller for eNom until it became an ICANN Registrar in February 2006. By February 2007, RegisterFly was Registrar for approximately 2,000,000 domain names held by about 900,000 customers. eNom formally severed ties with RegisterFly in February 2007 over continued consumer complaints. According to a notice sent by ICANN to RegisterFly on February 21, 2007, ICANN began having problems with Medina and RegisterFly months after accrediting RegisterFly. The lawsuit alleges that regardless of its knowledge, ICANN proceeded to ignore RegisterFly's flagrant violations of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement ("RAA") for months, permitting RegisterFly to get away with practices that should have ended the accreditation of any Registrar. ICANN's lax enforcement is what created this nightmare for thousands of people around the world.
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