United Fed'n of Churches, LLC v. Johnson

598 F.Supp.3d 1084

UNITED FEDERATION OF CHURCHES, LLC, Plaintiff,

v.David Alan JOHNSON, et al., Defendants.

CASE NO. C20-0509RAJ

United States District Court, W.D. Washington, at Seattle.

Signed April 15, 2022

Matthew A. Kezhaya, Pro Hac Vice, Kezhaya Law PLC, Bentonville, AR, Benjamin R. Justus, Lybeck Pedreira & Justus PLLC, Mercer Is, WA, for Plaintiff.

Jeremy E. Roller, Arete Law Group PLLC, Seattle, WA, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

Richard A. Jones, United States District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the court is Defendants David Alan Johnson, Leah Fishbaugh, Mickey Meehan, and Nathan Sullivan's (collectively, "Defendants") motion to dismiss Plaintiff United Federation of Churches, LLC's (d/b/a "The Satanic Temple") ("TST") second amended complaint. (Mot. (Dkt. # 27); Reply (Dkt. # 29); see also 2d Am. Compl. (Dkt. # 26).¹ ) TST opposes Defendants’ motion. (Resp. (Dkt. # 28).) The court has carefully reviewed all of the foregoing, the relevant portions of the record, and the applicable law. Being fully advised,² the court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Defendants’ motion to dismiss.

II. BACKGROUND

Below, the court sets forth the factual and procedural background of this case.

A. Factual Background³

TST is a religious organization that "advances seven fundamental tenets." (2d. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 8-9 (quoting https://www/thesatanictemple.org/our-tenets.html).) Its mission is to "encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will." (Id. ¶ 10 (quoting https://www.thesatanictemple.org/our-mission.html).) It maintains sole title to the trade name "The Satanic Temple" in the context of religious organizations. (Id. ¶ 12; see also id. , Ex. 1 (registration of trademark).)

TST has adherents in all 50 states, including Washington. (Id. ¶ 13.) It is organized at local levels in "Chapters" that are largely autonomous but subject to centralized control. (Id. ) At all relevant times, TST has had a Washington State Chapter (the "Chapter") led by two individuals: the Chapterhead, who has administrative authority over the Chapter, and a Media Liaison, who promotes the Chapter's activities to the general public. (Id. ¶¶ 14-16.)

At all relevant times, Facebook was the Chapter's primary platform for communicating with its membership; Twitter was the Chapter's secondary communication platform; and the Chapter used Google to "facilitate its organizational purposes by creating and storing documents." (Id. ¶¶ 26-28.) In October 2014, the Chapter created a business page on Facebook (the "Chapter page") having the name "The Satanic Temple – Washington" and the URL "https://www.facebook.com/thesatanictemplewashington" "for the benefit of TST in its efforts to disseminate information for what was then the Seattle Chapter." (Id. ¶ 29; see id. , Ex. 2 (Chapter page history).) Over the next several years, the Chapter page's audience grew to over 17,000 followers. (Id. ¶ 30.) In January 2015, the Chapter created a Twitter account with the URL "https://twitter.com/TST_Washington", which currently has an audience of about 4,000 followers. (Id. ¶ 31.) In September 2018, the Chapter created a secondary Facebook page named "TST WA Allies" (the "Allies page") to communicate with individuals who were interested in TST but did not want to identify as a member. (Id. ¶ 32.)

Defendants were four of sixteen members of the advisory council to the Chapterhead. (Id. ¶ 17.) "Attendant to their positions on the council, Defendants were entrusted with management of the Chapter's social media presence along with the other councilors." (Id. ) TST's Chapter page and Allies page were maintained and controlled exclusively by administrators approved by TST, who were subject to a written Code of Conduct. (Id. ¶¶ 33-34; id. , Ex. 4 (form Code of Conduct agreement).) TST entrusted each of the Defendants with administrative rights to the Facebook pages, subject to the Code of Conduct. (Id. ¶ 36.)

On March 2, 2020, Mr. Johnson shared a post on the Allies page that, according to TST, was outside of the authority granted under the Code of Conduct. (Id. ¶ 39.) The post was subsequently deleted. (Id. ¶ 40.) Between March 2 and March 12, 2020, TST's Washington leadership "became increasingly frustrated with Defendants’ organizational failures and inflammation of interpersonal conflicts within the advisory council." (Id. ¶ 41; id. ¶ 42 (listing alleged organizational failures, including "repeatedly operating TST's social media to endorse leftist politics as opposed to Satanism, despite repeated reminders that this was unacceptable").)

On March 12, 2020, TST's Washington leadership removed Defendants from their positions on the council. (Id. ¶¶ 18, 43.) According to TST, "[b]y removing Defendants from their advisory positions, the Washington leadership revoked Defendants’ authorization to manage the Chapter's social media activity and revoked Defendants’ authorization to serve as custodians of records." (Id. ¶ 44.)

On March 14, 2020, however, Mr. Meehan "exceeded authorization for the Allies page" by removing all TST-approved administrators except for Defendants; changing the name of the page to "Evergreen Memes for Queer Satanic Friends"; and posting a "manifesto", which stated that the page was no longer affiliated with TST. (Id. ¶ 46.) Mr. Meehan and the other Defendants began posting material on the page in violation of the Code of Conduct and in disregard of TST's revocation of their authority to manage TST's social media. (Id. ¶ 47.) Mr. Sullivan, for example, publicly stated that he was no longer affiliated with TST and posted that "we have a meme page that we stole from TST." (Id. ¶ 48; id. , Ex. 5.) TST leadership subsequently removed Defendants’ "administrative access privileges" from its Facebook Chapter page, Twitter account, and Google account. (Id. ¶ 49.⁴ )

On or around March 18, 2020, however, Mr. Johnson "hacked" TST's Twitter account, removed TST's approved administrators, replaced those administrators with his co-Defendants, followed a number of "extremist groups," and changed the description of the page from "Washington State Chapter of the Satanic Temple to "Satan stands as the ultimate icon for selfless revolt. We oppose irrational, unjust hierarchies like white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, & cishet normality." (Id. ¶ 50.) Mr. Johnson then "took control of the Chapter page by removing all TST-approved administrators, modifying the cover page without approval, and posting a three-page manifesto." (Id. ¶ 51; see id. , Ex. 6 (manifesto).) TST alleges that the manifesto included false claims about TST's leadership, including that they were "cozy with the alt-right," white supremacists, and "insufficiently leftist." (Id. ¶ 52.)

On March 20, 2020, the Chapter's Media Liaison emailed Mr. Johnson a "cease and desist instruction," and requested the return of the Chapter page. (Id. ¶ 53; id. , Ex. 7.) Mr. Johnson did not do so, and instead continued to make postings to the Chapter page that were inconsistent with TST's Code of Conduct. (Id. ¶¶ 54-55; see id. , Ex. 8 (Chapter page postings).) Later that same night, Ms. Fishbaugh "attempted to change the password to the Chapter's Google-based email account by changing the recovery email and changing the phone number." (Id. ¶ 56.) TST alleges that this action, like Mr. Johnson's, violated its explicit withdrawal of authority to manage its accounts following its removal of administrative access to the account. (Id. )

On or about March 22, 2020, Mr. Johnson changed the name of the Chapter page from "The Satanic Temple – Washington" to "Satanic Washington State – Archived Temple Chapter" and modified the profile picture. (Id. ¶ 57.) He did not, however, change the Chapter page's URL. ( Id. ¶ 61.) TST alleges that these actions, too, were in violation of its revocation of authority to manage TST's social media and its revocation of his social media administrative access privileges. (Id. ) TST estimates that the Chapter lost between 20 and 30 members because of Mr. Johnson's postings to the Chapter page. (Id. ¶ 62.)

TST further alleges that Mr. Sullivan has continued to have "exclusive control" of TST's original signed membership agreements, cloud-based trade secret documentation, background check documents, and an electronic database of members. (Id. ¶¶ 58-59.)

On March 23, 2020, TST sent a demand letter to Mr. Johnson, threatening litigation unless he "permanently relinquish[ed] full control" of the Chapter page by March 24, 2020. (Id. ¶ 64; id. , Ex. 9.) Mr. Johnson ignored the letter and, with his co-Defendants, continued to maintain exclusive control over the Chapter page. (Id. ¶ 65.) After originally refusing to return control of the Chapter page to TST on the ground that Defendants’ use of that page was a "Page admin issue" rather than an "infringement[ ] of [TST's] legal rights," Facebook returned control of the Chapter page to TST after it filed the initial complaint in this matter. (Id. ¶¶ 63, 66; see also id. , Ex. 2 (noting that the page name was changed back to "The Satanic Temple – Washington Chapter" on May 27, 2020).) TST also eventually recovered its Twitter and Google accounts through those companies. (Id. ¶ 68.)

B. Procedural Background

TST filed its initial complaint in this court on April 3, 2020. (Compl. (Dkt. # 1).) It asserted claims for violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030 ("CFAA"); violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d) ("ACPA"); tortious interference with business expectancy; violation of Washington's Consumer Protection Act, ch. 19.86 RCW ("CPA"); and defamation. (See id. ) On February 26, 2021, the court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss that complaint. (2/26/21 Order (Dkt. #...