12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss

Patricia Noyes-Corrigan obtained dismissal of allegations of trade infringement, violation of the Lanham Act and False Light Advertising on behalf of the Defendant in a matter in which Plaintiff had alleged a cause of action sounding in defamation and commercial disparagement based upon a negative review of services published on the internet. Defendant initially succeeded in preventing a Preliminary Injunction from issuing based upon First Amendment grounds in that to grant such an order would constitute a prior restraint of free speech which violated both US and State Constitutions. The Defendant then filed a Motion to Dismiss under Mass. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) which was allowed in part and denied in part by Judge Robert C. Cosgrove of the Plymouth Superior Court. Of note, is that, just a few months later, following Defendant’s request for a Rule 16 conference and the appointment by Order of the Court on October 6, 2017 of a Special Discovery Master, Sharon Lalli, Assistant Clerk of the Superior Court, the parties agreed to a Stipulation of Dismissal of the action with prejudice, filed on November 13, 2017. See, Memorandum and Order on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Plaintiff’s Motion to Amend, Plymouth Superior Court Civil Action No. 1783CV00077. (The Honorable Robert C. Cosgrove, Justice of the Superior Court) (May 10, 2017.)