Court Reiterates 230 Dismissal–Doe v. Bates

January 3, 2007 · by · in Derivative Liability

By Eric Goldman

Doe v. Bates, 2006 WL 3813758 (E.D. Tex. Dec. 27, 2006)

I previously blogged about Doe v. Bates, which involved a plaintiff trying to hold Yahoo liable for child pornography disseminated by members of one of its egroups. At least one member of the egroup (the named defendant, Mark Bates) has gone to jail for his involvement in the child pornography distribution.

In January 2006, the magistrate dismissed the complaint per 230. In December 2006, the judge adopted the magistrate’s opinion. In doing so, the judge reiterated that 230 preempts civil claims predicated on federal criminal statutes. In combination with the Voicenet v. Corbett case, which came out in August and reached the same conclusion, we’re beginning to see the development of a body of case law confirming this legal principle.