Take TheStreet.com and its firebrand of a co-founder, Jim Cramer. In February rival financial pundit and hedge fund manager Jonathan Hoenig sued Cramer and TheStreet for defamation, alleging that one of Cramer’s columns mischaracterized the advice that Hoenig gave an investor on a television call-in show. TheStreet asked a circuit court judge in Chicago to dismiss the case; when the judge refused, the defendants dug up some evidence of their own against Hoenig and filed a countersuit. According to TheStreet’s July 2 filing, Hoenig had been using Cramer’s name to direct traffic to his Capitalistpig.com Web site using metatags -- software coding that influences the results of Internet search engines like Google and Lycos. TheStreet alleged that Hoenig used the metatag keywords “James Cramer” and “Jim Cramer,” even though his site had no Cramer-related content. Last month both sides agreed to drop the litigation. Hoenig’s attorney, Alan Nicgorski, calls TheStreet’s countersuit “unrelated and legally flimsy” and says that Hoenig considers the court’s refusal to dismiss his case as sufficient vindication in view of the expense of a trial. Jordan Goldstein, TheStreet’s general counsel, won’t comment on the case’s merits, saying only, “We’re very glad that it’s over.”
