The dismissal of claims by unpaid bloggers against The Huffington Post has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. A three-judge panel yesterday rejected claims brought by Jonathan Tasini and other contributors for a share of the $315 million that AOL paid for The Huffington Post in early 2011.
Alleging unjust enrichment and deceptive business practices, the plaintiffs claimed they contributed $105 million of that value and that the company duped them into providing free content based on promises their contributions would be used to provide a public service and the website would never be sold to “Big Media.” But Judge John Koeltl (See Profile) dismissed the case in April (NYLJ, April 2), a decision upheld by Circuit Judges Jose Cabranes (See Profile) and Reena Raggi (See Profile) and Southern District Judge Jed Rakoff (See Profile), sitting by designation.
