After out-of-state blogger Tabatha Marshall allegedly published a blog accusing website operator Internet Solutions Corp (“ISC”) of “on-going criminal activity, specifically ‘phishing’ and consumer fraud,” ISC sued Ms. Marshall for defamation in federal court in Orlando, Florida.
Ms. Marshall, a Washington-state resident, moved to dismiss the suit for lack of “personal jurisdiction.” In other words, because she was an out-of-state blogger, with no ties to Florida, she could not be sued within Florida, she argued. After some appeals, this year the case made it to the Florida Supreme Court, which certified, and answered, a new question involving personal jurisdiction and the Internet.
The court examined section 48.193, Florida Statutes, otherwise known as Florida’s “long arm” statute, which enables plaintiffs to sue foreigners in Florida for a “tortious act” committed on Florida soil, such as a car crash on I-4. “Florida’s long-arm statute was first enacted in 1973, and … [the relevant section] has not been amended since that time,” Justice Barbara Pariente explained for the Court. “Thus, the Florida Legislature has never specifically considered the impact of the explosion of the World Wide Web on personal jurisdiction under the long-arm statute.”
The tortious act of defamation is not committed until a defamatory statement has been “published” to a third party, such as through an email, telephone call, letter, or fax. Therefore, a defendant need not be physically present in Florida to commit a tortious act here. Things like letters, emails, and faxes are, by their very nature, specifically directed into the state of Florida. But websites are different. Whether a blog post is “an electronic communication into Florida” is a more difficult question, the court said, because the blog can be accessed from almost anywhere and is not directed “into a particular forum in the same way as a phone call, letter, email, chat room, or facsimile.”
However, the court reasoned, when it comes to defamation, the act of publication is itself the tortious act. Therefore, the court found that, where a defamatory statement is accessed in Florida, it is “published” in Florida – even though it may also be published in Mozambique. Thus, for purposes of personal jurisdiction, the court concluded, a nonresident commits an act of defamation when she posts allegedly defamatory statements about a Florida resident onto a website that is accessible in Florida.
The opinion is good news to Florida businesses and individuals who have been defamed on the Internet because it enables them to obtain personal jurisdiction in Florida over the defaming person.
The Florida Supreme Court opinion is Internet Solutions Corp. v. Marshall, 39 So.3d 1201 (Fla. 2011) and is available here.
If you have been defamed on the Internet and would like to speak to an attorney about your options, feel free to contact our office.
Leave a Reply