The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Lennar Corp. They get today's award for their lawsuit against Stuart Florida Real Estate agent Mike Morgan.

STUART — A national home builder sued a Stuart real estate agent on Friday claiming his Internet crusade against the company's homes had trampled on its trademark.

But the real estate agent vowed his campaign to expose what he says is shoddy building by the company will not go away.

The Miami-based Lennar Corp. filed the lawsuit against Mike Morgan in circuit court in Stuart on Friday afternoon.

The lawsuit alleges that a new Web site Morgan created, www.defectivehomes.us, is causing "infringement, confusion and dilution" of Lennar's trademarked name.

Morgan, who runs the Morgan Florida real estate firm, created the Web site on Monday to gather complaints from residents who have bought Lennar homes.

Morgan said he started his campaign against Lennar after he said company officials failed to tell him that a public park and the site of the proposed Indian Street bridge would be near a home he purchased in the Whitemarsh Reserve townhome project on Kanner Highway.

Lennar General Counsel Mark Sustana denied Morgan's allegations, but said the company has offered everyone who has bought a Lennar home the option to back out of their contract and get a full refund with 5 percent interest.

Morgan said he also hired a home inspector to examine three Lennar homes in the Martin's Crossing subdivision and found defects in the roof, stucco and wiring. Sustana also denied those allegations.

The lawsuit claims that Morgan purchased a link on the Web so that people who search for Lennar Homes on an Internet search engine would be directed towards Morgan's Web site. It also claims that a link on that Web site makes false claims about the quality of Lennar homes.

It also claims that the Web site urges homeowners to contact Morgan and to "have no further communication with any Lennar representative."

Sustana said the company was seeking damages from Morgan for using their name on his Web site and wants an injunction to make him stop.

Sustana would not say whether the company was planning any further legal action against Morgan for his criticisms of Lennar Homes.

Late Friday afternoon, Morgan said he was taking the Web site down and would reactivate it by today without any references to Lennar Homes. He said he has also hired an attorney to defend against the trademark infringement allegations.

Morgan said he is also drafting complaints against Lennar that he will file with state and federal agencies next week after a meeting with Martin's Crossing homeowners.

"I'm not going away," Morgan said. "They just get stupider and stupider because now I am going to defend myself and I'll bring all of those inspection reports into the public record."

1- Has Lennar homes ever heard of the 1st ammendment?
2- How much damage can a website do in four days of operation? I mean their filing for over a million dollars on Friday of last week when the website only began Monday.

TFM gets 200+ visitors a day. Back I first started here, that number was 1/10th of that. What is this purchase a link business? Web domains are purchased, links I have never heard of being sold. Web advertisments is something else.

What this lawsuit does sound like is intimidation. Similiar to this knucklehead winner who sued a blogger. What these people fear isn't a little bad publicity, one blogger or real estate agent is just one person's word, its they want to muzzle anyone who they don't like.

For being a bully, Lennar Corp is today's Knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Mudville Gazette, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Point Five, Stop the ACLU, Jo's Cafe, Wizbang,
Cross Posted to Bullwinkle Blog