DiMeo v. Max

Anthony DiMeo III, blueberry farm heir and operator of publicity firm Renamity, threw a New Years Eve party on December 31, 2005 that did not end well -- the district court judge referred to it as "the ... party from hell." Tucker Max, Internet celebrity and operator of www.tuckermax.com, hosts a forum on the aforementioned Web site in which anonymous posters ridiculed both the party and DiMeo himself. DiMeo sued Max for defamation in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, and Max then removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. See DiMeo v. Max, 433 F.Supp.2d 523, 533 (E.D. Pa. 2006). DiMeo added claims for violations of telecommunications-harassment statute 47 U.S.C. § 223(a)(1)(c) and for punitive damages, though the district court dismissed both with little discussion (the former primarily because it was based on a criminal statute that offered no private cause of action, and the latter because it was a legal remedy rather than a claim). The court similarly dismissed DiMeo's motion to amend his complaint, which the court saw as a futile attempt to repair the 223(a)(1)(c) claim.

Max filed a motion to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, which the court granted with prejudice. Following a typical analysis of a case governed by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230), the court held that Section 230 barred DiMeo's defamation claim because: a.) Max, as the operator of the Web site and forum, was a provider of an interactive computer service; b.) DiMeo's claims treated Max as a publisher or speaker of information; and c.) the forum posts were information provided by a third-party content provider. The court noted that DiMeo did not allege that Max was the author of the disputed content, and thus it necessarily was third-party content. Because providers may not be treated as the publishers of third-party content under Section 230, dismissal was appropriate. DiMeo appealed the dismissal of the defamation claim and the dismissal of the motion to amend to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Update:

On Sept. 19, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the district court's decision. In a short opinion marked "not precedential," the Third Circuit followed the district court's reasoning in finding TuckerMax.com to be an interactive computer service that was protected from liability for third-party speech under Section 230. As of Sept. 25, 2007, the case has not been appealed.