A US court has decided that a resident of Minnesota, who
criticised a scholar on an internet newsgroup devoted to
Egyptology, cannot be sued for libel in Alabama, the scholar’s home
state. The court vacated a $25,000 judgement against the
defendant.
The scholar, Katherine Griffins, sued Marianne Luban in Alabama.
Luban, who is a resident of Minnesota, refused to attend court
sessions, claiming that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the
case. She claimed that the suit should have been filed in her home
state, as most libel cases for printed material are prosecuted
where the statement was produced.
Griffins asked Minnesota courts to enforce the decision. Two
decisions upheld the Alabama verdict. However the Minnesota Supreme
Court overruled the previous rulings unanimously.
The decision said: “The fact that messages posted to the
newsgroup could have been read in Alabama, just as they could have
been read anywhere in the world, cannot suffice to establish
Alabama as the focal point of the defendant’s conduct.”
Griffin’s lawyer said that the court simply misread the law, and
that his client will appeal to the US Supreme Court.
