Sixth Circuit Holds Website Cannot Be Liable for Postings, Reversing Lower Court

In an important decision issued today, the Sixth Circuit held that the operators of www.TheDirty.com could not be held liable for postings by third parties on the website. The decision reversed the decision of the Eastern District of Kentucky, which had allowed the plaintiff's claims to proceed, despite the website's arguments that the claims were barred by the Communications Decency Act (CDA).

The District Court held that the website operators were not entitled to immunity under the CDA because they had intentionally encouraged illegal or actionable third-party postings and added comments ratifying or adopting the posts. Accordingly, it allowed the case to proceed to a jury – twice – ultimately resulting in a verdict in favor of Jones for $38,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages. This decision was widely seen as a departure from most CDA precedent which recognizes broad federal immunity to protect website operators for displaying content created by third-parties.

The Sixth Circuit held that the District Court had erred in finding that the website operators were the "creators" or "developers" of the content at issue and also erred in adopting an "encouragement test of immunity under the CDA."

by Holland & Knight LLP
read full article at JD Supra http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/sixth-circuit-holds-website-cannot-be-li-04120/?utm_source=LU_Emails