S-22-0557 Charter West Bank (Appellee) v. Justin E. Riddle and Erin M. Riddle (Appellants)
Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County, Judge J. Russell Derr
Attorneys: Jeffrey A. Silver, Esq. (for Appellee) and Justin E. Riddle and Erin M. Riddle (Self-represented Appellants)
Civil: Permanent Injunction and Anti-Cybersquatting Protection Act
Proceedings below: The district court granted Charter West Bank a permanent injunction enjoining Appellants from operating a website with the domain name www.charterwestbank.com or any other website with a domain name that contains “charter west.” On its own motion, the Supreme Court ordered this case to be transferred from the docket of the Court of Appeals to its docket.
Issues: Appellants make the following assignments of error: 1) The district court erred in granting the Plaintiffs judgment against the Defendants for cybersquatting; 2) The district court erred in ruling that the Defendant can not use any iteration of “Charter West” such as www.charterwestbanksucks.com because it has been ruled upon several times, and there can be no claim of confusion from a website that includes a company name followed by “sucks;” 3) The court erred in allowing settlement emails in violation of Rule 408, and they played a significant part in the decision; 4) The district court erred in its decision by failing to recognize that there is a specific set of requirements that must be met to receive protection from Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), and that the Plaintiff does not qualify for the protection; and 5) The district court did not have jurisdiction over the proceedings. The case should have been filed and tried in the federal court District of Nebraska, as the anticybersquatting act and freedom of speech fall firmly under federal jurisdiction.