From Corso Ventures, LLC v. Paye, decided Sept. 7, 2021 by Judge Karen Held Phipps (Ohio Ct. Com. Pl. Franklin County), but just posted several days ago on Westlaw; it's now on appeal.
{In January of 2020, Defendant Jordan saw a story on the local news that the Short North Food Hall had established a dress code banning certain articles of clothing and accessories [more on the details below -EV]. The various news identified Short North Food Hall's parent company as being Plaintiff Corso Ventures and/or stated the restaurant was owned by Plaintiff Christopher Corso.
Defendant Jordan, who is African-American, viewed the clothing prohibitions as being racially charged and discriminatory. Thus, he authored and published three articles or advertisements on his website intending to criticize Plaintiffs for creating the dress code: "Corso Ventures' Newest Bar, Nigghers, Coming to Short North This Fall," "Short North Food Hall Literally Just Googled, 'How to Keep Black People Out of Bars,'" and "White Wednesdays at Short North Food Hall." Defendant Jordan contends he intentionally wrote the articles in a way that would clearly signal to the reader that they were satire and not a depiction of true events. The articles were surrounded by other satirical articles that Defendant Jordan claims were obviously untrue and jokes or parodies. Some of the surrounding headlines were, "Socially Distanced July 4th Parade Will Be 86 Miles Long, Last 40 Hours"; "Raccoon Serial Killer Continues Senseless Violence"; and "Teaching My Grandpa How to Find Porn on His Phone."}
[Jordan's website is] DelawareOhioNews.com. Defendant Jordan regularly writes articles and other content published on the website. He characterizes DelawareOhioNews.com as a "satirical website" that publishes fictional stories to "poke fun" at issues of local or national interest. In its "ABOUT US" section, DelawareOhioNews states the following:
