Case: 18-10742 Date Filed: 06/07/2019 Page: 1 of 26 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-10742 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 9:16-cv-81975-BB MATT FRIEDMAN, an individual, SCALE MEDIA INC., a New York corporation, Plaintiffs - Appellees, versus NICHOLAS SCHIANO, d.b.a. HotWireMedia.com, M&M ENTERTAINMENT, INC., a Florida corporation, BARMITZVAHS.COM, INC., a Florida corporation, Defendants - Appellants. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (June 7, 2019) Case: 18-10742 Date Filed: 06/07/2019 Page: 2 of 26 Before MARTIN, NEWSOM, and BRANCH, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: This appeal stems from the district court’s refusal to vacate an approximately $1.3 million default judgment. The appeal turns on two issues: (1) whether the defendant was properly served, and (2) whether the defendant had good cause for failing to appear. The district court found, as a factual matter, that the defendant was properly served. It further refused to set aside the default judgment after concluding the defendant, despite knowing about the lawsuit, had not adequately explained his months-long failure to contact the court. We affirm. I. A. On December 8, 2016, Matt Friedman and his company, Scale Media, Inc., sued Nicholas Schiano and his companies, M&M Entertainment, Inc. and Barmitzvahs.com, Inc. 1 Friedman asserted two causes of action, one common law (defamation per se) and one statutory (violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act). Friedman alleged that Schiano posted defamatory messages on numerous websites, using words like “fraud,” “scam,” or “crime” over 325 times to describe Friedman. Attached to the complaint were numerous 1 As will become clear, the relevant parties are Friedman and Schiano. For ease, and because the two individuals had complete control over the other parties in this case, we generally refer only to the individuals. 2 Case: 18-10742 Date Filed: 06/07/2019 Page: 3 of 26 instances of Schiano’s alleged defamation, including a screenshot of the Scale Media webpage on which Schiano had superimposed a large warning sign that said “SCAM” and the message “SCAMS ARE CRIMES | HELP STOP THEM.” Friedman contended Schiano had falsely accused him of credit card fraud, cybercrimes, Internet scams, phone sales fraud, theft, and hacking Schiano’s website. As Friedman later explained at a hearing, “Schiano was essentially able to flood the Internet with so many of these defamatory websites that if anyone Googled [Friedman’s] name . . . all they would see would be fraud and scam alerts.” The root of this animus? As Friedman tells it, the two men had previously worked together, and when Friedman left to start his own related business, Schiano did not take kindly to the competition. Schiano did not answer or otherwise respond to the complaint. On January 6, 2017, the district court clerk entered a default against him. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a). On the day of the default, the district court entered a preliminary injunction, making findings of facts that Schiano’s statements constituted defamation per se ...
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