The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that a non-resident blogger can be sued in the state for posting allegedly defamatory comments about a Florida company on her out-of-state Web site.
In a unanimous opinion, the court said that if a Web site’s comments about a Florida company are accessible in Florida and actually accessed in Florida, they are considered published in Florida, making the posting of the comments a tortious act in the state under its long-arm statute. Posting defamatory material on a Web site alone does not constitute a tortious act under Florida law; rather the material must not only be accessible in Florida but also accessed in Florida, the court said.
“In the context of the World Wide Web, given its pervasiveness, an alleged tortfeasor who posts allegedly defamatory material on a website has intentionally made the material almost instantly available everywhere the material is accessible. By posting allegedly defamatory material on the Web about a Florida resident, the poster has directed the communication about a Florida resident to readers worldwide, including potential readers within Florida. When the posting is then accessed by a third party in Florida, the material has been ―published in Florida and the poster has communicated the material ―into Florida, thereby committing the tortious act of defamation within Florida. This interpretation is consistent with the approach taken regarding other forms of communication,” Justice Barbara Pariente wrote for the court.
This is the first time the court has ruled on Web site postings, although Florida courts have previously ruled that emails, phone calls and letters into the state represent communications covered under the statute.
The case involved Tabatha Marshall, a resident of the state of Washington, who from her home runs a non-commercial Web site (www.tabathamarshall.com) that includes warnings on “job phishers” and identity theft. According to the employment and recruiting firm Internet Solutions Corp., a Nevada for-profit corporation that operates VeriResume and other Web sites and whose principal place of business is Florida, Marshall made posts in which she accused ISC of criminal activity, including phishing and scamming.
The Washington defendant had argued that she was not a Florida resident and had no connection to the state and thus subjecting her to Florida law would violate federal due process.
She also claimed that her acts were completed in the state of Washington and nothing on the Web site could be published to a Florida computer ―unless and until the reader reached up into Washington and retrieved it.
But the state high court said this argument “ignores the nature of the Web, which is fundamentally different from a telephone call, an e-mail, or a letter.”
By posting on her Web site, Marshall made the material accessible by anyone with Internet access worldwide, the court said.
Thus, once the allegedly defamatory material was published in Florida, Marshall had committed the tortious act of defamation within Florida for purposes of Florida’s long-arm statute.
The state court was asked to answer the question by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The case now goes back to this circuit court which must decide whether the lawsuit against Marshall violates her constitutional rights of free expression and due process.
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Topics Lawsuits Florida Washington
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