Federal Court Tosses Teen Prostitute Suit Against Village Voice & Backpage,com

Image via WikipediaCiting a federal statute that protects Internet service providers from lawsuits concerning content posted on their sites, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Thomas C. Mummert III this week dismissed a lawsuit against Village Voice Media Holdings LLC and Backpage.com brought by a teen-aged prostitute who claimed the defendants knowingly permitted her pimp to advertise her sexual services on their Website.

According to accounts in St. Louis Today and by the Associated Press, the lawsuit sought at least $150,000 in damages against Backpage.com, which accepts adult services ads, for allegedly providing a "safe house" for customers and procurers to arrange child prostitution. The plaintiff in the suit was not identified, but claimed she became a prostitute at age 14. Her 27-year-old pimp last December received a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to using interstate commerce to promote prostitution, according to press accounts.

In dismissing the case, Judge Mummert ruled: "Congress has declared such websites to be immune to suits arising from such injuries. It is for Congress to change the policy that gave rise to such immunity." Section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."

In September 2010, a joint letter was sent to Backpage.com by attorneys general from 21 states urging the site to stop running adult services ads, which the Website declined to do. (See "TUOL" post 9/23/10.)

Fourth Circuit Says Consumer Web site Entitled to CDA Immunity

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The Web site ConsumerAffairs.com is immune from claims of defamation and interference with advantageous business relations for 20 postings concerning a class-action suit against an auto dealer under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 ["CDA",47 U.S.C. sec. 230(c)(1)], according to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

In Nemet Chevrolet Ltd. & Thomas Nemet d/b/a Nemet Motors v. ConsumerAffairs.com, Inc. (Case No. 08-2097), the 4th Circuit said the Web site was an "interactive computer service," not an "information content provider," and thus, was entitled to protection under Sec. 230(c)(1), which provides: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." 

The plaintiffs argued that the structure and design of the Web site and the Web site's participation in preparing 20 consumer complaints at issue exempted the defendant from CDA immunity. The appellate court, in upholding U.S. District Court Judge for the E.D. of Virginia Gerald Lee's allowance of defendant's motion to dismiss, said the plaintiffs' allegations were conclusory and failed to intimate ConsumerAffairs.com contributed to the allegedly fraudulent nature of the 20 comments at issue.