Illinois Supreme Court rules project44’s defamation case can continue

Project44 has won a major battle in its ongoing defamation suit against competitor FourKites. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that emails in question were published to a third party, and that the Cook County Circuit Court must try the case.

The two FreightTech rivals have been battling it out in the courts after project44 accused FourKites of being behind a defamation campaign via email to two members of project44’s board. Emails from pseudonyms “Ken Adams” at kenadams8558@gmail.com and “Jason Short” at jshort5584@gmail.com alleged improprieties at project44 and even alluded to the company having a connection to the Chicago mafia. Both emails claimed to be from former project44 employees, hoping to warn board members of wrongdoing.

An investigation by project44 found that IP addresses from which the emails were sent belonged to “individuals associated with FourKites,” the court stated.

The Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois previously agreed with FourKites to grant a motion to dismiss the case, but the appellate court forced further proceedings after an appeal. The Supreme Court upheld the appellate court ruling.