Marcia Washkuhn, a partner in the litigation department at Kutak Rock’s Omaha office, was quoted in the Omaha World-Herald article “Tully’s Kennels felt big bite from online petition" on August 5, 2015.

The article describes how it took less than 24 hours for an 18-year-old Omaha woman’s petition on the welfare of dogs at Tully’s Kennels to attract 13,000 website signatures calling for the 51-year-old business to shut its doors.

Management at Tully's has said the complaints are exaggerated and that the kennel is not a "puppy mill" as the petition charges. The kennel says the petition has caused a significant decline in sales.

Washkuhn explained that because of the Internet, it’s exponentially easier for ordinary people to make statements that could damage a business. “People will often talk around the water cooler and gossip about things that may be defamatory," said Washkuhn. "Now, the Internet has become more of a water cooler ... and that creates more opportunities for written defamation or libel since you have these statements in writing in a way you wouldn’t have had before.” She did not comment on the particulars of the kennel petition.

Washkuhn is head of the Omaha office’s employment group and has extensive experience handling a variety of labor and employment matters. Her practice also focuses on litigating cases involving noncompete agreements, corporate raiding, misappropriation of trade secrets and breaches of fiduciary duties by employees, officers or directors.