An Oregon woman’s posting of allegedly defamatory messages on Internet discussion groups and a “passive” Website that are accessible anywhere in the world does not expose her to being sued for libel in Pennsylvania — where the target of her alleged defamation lives — since she didn’t have sufficient contacts here to give a Pennsylvania court personal jurisdiction, a federal judge has ruled.
In his 32-page opinion in Barrett v. The Catacombs Press, U.S. District Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen found that Dr. Stephen Barrett must sue Darlene Sherrell in her home state since he couldn’t meet any of the legal tests for establishing jurisdiction over her in Pennsylvania.
