Recent U.S. Cases Involving Internet Jurisdiction Over Non-resident Defendants

Recently, the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the district court awarding the Plaintiff $3,000,000 in damages for libel, slander, and intentional interference with a business relationship. In John Wagner v. Glenda Miskin, Wagner, a professor at the University of North Dakota ("UND"), filed a complaint against a student, Miskin, for publishing defamatory statements about Wagner on Miskin's website. One of the key issues raised in the appeal was Miskin's argument that the Court lacked jurisdiction over the Internet publications originating outside of the State. Miskin, now a Minnesota resident, argued that her Internet communications were not directed solely to the State of North Dakota. In deciding its first Internet jurisdiction case, the North Dakota Court reviewed the different approaches that had been applied by other courts. Some courts apply a "sliding scale" test in Internet cases to determine personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendants by examining the active versus passive nature of the website at issue. Other courts apply the "effects test" derived from Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783, 804 S. Ct. 1482 (1984), where a California resident sued Florida residents for libel. In Calder, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the exercise of jurisdiction was proper because of the foreseeable "effects" in California on the non-resident defendant's activities. The Court in the Wagner case found that the record clearly contradicted Miskin's argument that her Internet communications were not directed uniquely to North Dakota. The Court noted that Miskin's website address was "www.undnews.com" and held that the articles on her website related to UND issues and staff. In particular, the primary topics of the articles concerned the litigation, Wagner and his attorney. The Court held that this demonstrated that a North Dakota university was the focus of her website and concluded that Miskin did target North Dakota with her website, specifically North Dakota resident John Wagner. As such, the District Court did not err in exercising jurisdiction over Miskin. In another recent development on the issue of Internet jurisdiction, this past week, the U.S. Supreme Court passed on a chance to set a national standard for establishing Internet jurisdiction for non-residents when it refused to hear a case on Internet libel. In Young v. New Haven Advocate, the Court let stand an appeals court's ruling that two Connecticut newspapers could not be sued in a Virginia court for libel over articles posted on their websites. To view a copy of John Wagner v. Glenda Miskin, visit: http://www.court.state.nd.us/COURT/OPINIONS/20020200.htm Summary by: Nick Wong