Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit

People complain about businesses online all the time. But one bus company's campaign to shut down its Internet haters has expanded into an array of lawsuits and, most recently, threats against a reddit forum moderator. 

Suburban Express is a bus line that caters to students, providing weekend lifts into the Chicago area from colleges in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. The company has developed a bad reputation online, with reviewers on Yelp and commenters on reddit sharing stories of what they claim are the company’s cutthroat business practices. For example, the company's ticket policy includes a "ticket fraud" clause that hits riders who hand the wrong ticket to a driver with a $100 fine, charged to the credit card used to purchase their ticket. "In the event that ticket is used to obtain transportation on another day or at another time," the company's policy statement reads, "or to or from a Chicago area stop other than printed on your ticket, you will be charged full fare for the trip you actually rode PLUS $100 penalty. You will also be permanently banned." The company also has a history of suing passengers for violating its terms and conditions—it has filed 125 tort and contract damage lawsuits against passengers this year alone, according to a report from a student newspaper.

The terms of service don't include not speaking ill of the company online, but apparently they might as well. Some commenters have accused the company's owner, Dennis Toeppen, of hunting down negative reviewers and banning them from the company's buses.

The Internet cauldron of opinion boiled over for Suburban Express after an incident on March 31. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate student Jeremy Leval took to Facebook, describing a driver he saw make derogatory comments to an international student who was having difficulty understanding him—“If you don’t understand English, you don’t belong at the University of Illinois or any ‘American’ University," he reportedly told her. 

Four days later, Leval told the Daily Illini, University of Illinois' student newspaper, about the incident. He received an e-mail from the company that said he was being fined $500 for "liquidated damages" and was permanently banned. In a statement on the company's website, company owner Toeppen threatened to sue Leval, saying, "The attorneys for Suburban Express are reviewing this incident with a view towards filing the appropriate legal action against this meddlesome MBA student."

Toeppen then took to reddit himself to counter Leval's claims, saying that the company someone had apologized for the incident with the foreign student in a voicemail, saying, "I apologize for any offense taken in this incident, and don't know how this happened. We strive for perfection but can fall short in this imperfect world we live in..." But he denied that it was him that left the message, and wouldn't even say if it was someone representing the company. "Where did I say I heard the voice mail?" he posted in his own Reddit thread. "The person who left the message wrote his apology out on paper before he called Leval, and then read it. This he did so that he would know exactly what he said."

Notorious cybersquatter accused of hurling insults through fake accounts

The ongoing controversy led to the following note being posted atop the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) subreddit: "Don't ride Suburban Express! They're likely to sue you, have terrible reviews, and also this." The "this" in question is a series of anonymous comments that a reddit moderator believes were made by Suburban Express, describing the reddit users as being virgins and chronic masturbators. "I'm a virgin and I'm sick of it," reads one comment. "Welcome to the forum for lonely virgins!" reads another.

Now, Suburban Express has unleashed its lawyers on the reddit moderator that deleted those comments. On April 24, James E. Long, an attorney for Toeppen and Suburban Express, sent a letter and e-mail to Murph Finnicum, a UIUC graduate student, accusing him of "allowing false and libelous" comments to be made about the company and of deleting posts "which counterbalance the negativity." They wrote, "If you do not take corrective action to remedy the damages from your false and libelous postings by removing the items by April 27, 2013, Suburban Express has authorized the pursuit of legal action against you as a result of your conduct."

Toeppen is no stranger to legal action over Internet controversy. In the late 1990s, he was a self-confessed cybersquatter, registering over 200 domain names and asking for payment by trademark holders in exchange for them—including Panavision.com, for which he demanded $13,000. That led to the 1998 case Panavision International L.P. v. Toeppen (which Toeppen lost) and in part to the AntiCybersquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999.

"It was clear to me at the time that domain names were valuable, undeveloped virtual real estate," he wrote on his personal home page. "There was absolutely no statutory or case law regarding trademarks in the context of Internet domain names at the time. It seemed to be an excellent opportunity to do the virtual equivalent of buying up property around a factory—eventually the factory owner would realize that he needed the scarce resource which I possessed."

The legal threat against Finnicum quickly drew promises of support from others on reddit—including Ken White, the lawyer behind the legal blog Popehat. White sent an e-mail to Long, which he also posted to reddit: "I do not represent any party (though I have offered to connect the recipient of your threat with pro bono counsel). However, I am considering writing a post about the matter."

"Would you be willing to answer some questions about your threat?" White continued. "I'm particularly interested in discussing the factual basis for your assertions, how you reconcile your position with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and your evaluation of risks in light of the Streisand Effect."

White has also asked for others who have received legal threats from Suburban Express to contact him.

Ars contacted Toeppen to ask about his legal threats against the reddit moderator, but we haven't heard back. We'll update this post if we do.

Update:  In a letter sent to Finnicum this afternoon by email and post shortly after this story ran, Suburban Express' attorney James Long said that no legal action would be pursued.  "I will confess that I have very limited understanding of Reddit," he wrote, "and your response regarding the thread being moderated by several different individuals was instructive and was confirmed by individuals with much more knowledge of Reddit than I possess.  At this time Suburban Express is of the opinion that it is best for the company and all individuals involved with this issue for Suburban Express to move forward with its mission to provide safe, courteous and efficient service to its current and future customers."

There is no word on whether Suburban Express intends to continue to press a case against Laval, or the other 125 individuals the company has filed suit against this year. Toeppen and Long have not yet responded to inquiries from Ars.