Apr 8, 2005 : Web Host Wins Defamation Suit

📅 April 8, 2005 - Phillip Ybarrolaza, head of Web host Teamster.net (teamster.net) won a decisive victory in the Circuit Court for the State of Tennessee in a suit filed by members and officials of Teamsters Local 480 in Nashville, Tennessee for defamation and related counts resulting from communications posted anonymously on Ybarrolaza's Web site.  Ybarrolaza resides in California and operates Teamster.net outside of Tennessee, particularly in California. The Teamster Local 480 Plaintiffs brought claims against Ybarrolaza, claiming him to be responsible for the communications posted by unknown individuals on his Web site.

Ybarrolaza responded by filing a Motion to Dismiss, arguing that the Tennessee courts lacked personal jurisdiction over him and that § 230 of the Communications Act released him of any liability.
 The Tennessee Circuit Court ruled in Ybarrolaza's favor and affirmed that Tennessee lacked personal jurisdiction over him, relying on similar cases in the past. While the Teamster Local 480 Plaintiffs had 30 days to appeal the Tennessee Circuit Court's decision, they failed to do so.  Ybarrolaza's attorney said the court recognized the principle that the host of a non-commercial Web site should not be subject to the jurisdiction of a forum in which the Web host has no other contacts but that individuals from that forum can access the Web site and post to it.