Single Publication Rule Applies to Internet Publications

In the recent case of Buskirk v. The New York Times Co., and John L. Plaster, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a New York District Court's dismissal of a defamation suit. The plaintiff, Robert Van Buskirk ("Buskirk"), brought an action against both The New York Times ("Times") and John L. Plaster ("Plaster") for libel. The subject of the action against Plaster was a letter he had written and posted on an Internet site. The suit against the Times arose from the publication of an opinion article based on a revised version of the letter. In both the letter and the subsequent Times article, Plaster had declared that Buskirk was the source of various allegedly untrue statements made within a report broadcast by CNN. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the action against Plaster on the basis that it was barred by statute. Contrary to the Statute of Limitations, Buskirk had commenced the action against Plaster more than one year after the date on which Plaster's letter was published on the Internet. New York's single publication rule provides that "the publication of a single defamatory item, such as a book or article... gives rise to only one cause of action which arises when the finished product is released by the publisher for sale" irrespective of whether the item is sold in multiple copies, in numerous places or at various times. Consequently, the limitation period began to run from the date of the first publication. Previously, in Firth v. New York, 747 N.Y.S.2d. 69, 72 (2002), the Appellate Court had found that the single publication rule was applicable to Internet publishing. Relying on its previous decision, the court held that Buskirk's action was statutorily barred. The Appellate Court also affirmed the District Court's dismissal of the action against the Times on the basis that the article was not susceptible to the defamatory meanings alleged in Buskirk's statement of claim. For a copy of the Buskirk decision, please visit: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/009220p.pdf Summary by: Lenni Carreiro