'Flip This House' case spawns Web worries

Is the Internet weaving its web into America's court rooms? Not if a district court judge in Charleston has anything to do with it.

During a hearing last Wednesday in a lawsuit between Trademark Properties and A&E Networks, District Court Judge C. Weston Houck commented on the potential role of a Web site that's following the case online.

The lawsuit in question was brought by Charleston real estate entrepreneur-turned-TV personality Richard C. Davis and his James Island-based firm. He alleges that cable TV network A&E reneged on a deal to share revenue equally from the hit show Flip This House, which originally featured Davis's house renovations.

A&E denies such an agreement ever existed, and the case continues.

But at last week's hearing, Judge Houck took a few minutes to voice his concerns over the role a Web site he named as "Flip This Lawsuit" might play should the case ever go to trial.

Houck said he was told about the Web site by a third party but has not seen the site personally. But if the suit reaches jury selection and problems arise, for example, because a juror cannot consider the case because the site possibly influenced the proceedings, the court will not mess around in dealing with it, he said.

That could involve asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the U.S. Attorney's Office to look into who runs the site and why, the judge said.

"We're not in Boy Scout camp here," Houck told those in attendance, basically the attorneys in the case and Davis. "This is a serious court and we don't do business that way."

The site's owner, Mark H. Lyons of Florence, Miss., told Grapevine last week that he's not trying to disrupt the case. Further, he has never met Richard Davis, he said. "I certainly wouldn't want to hamper the case," he said. "The information I provide is all public information."

A disclaimer on the site's home page says it is not affiliated with Trademark or A&E.

See the website at www.flipthislawsuit.com