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Negligence Suit Against MySpace Dismissed

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 15, 2007, 11:21 AM

A negligence lawsuit filed by a Texas family after a 13-year-old girl was assaulted by a 19-year-old man after meeting on MySpace was dismissed Wednesday, with a U.S. District Judge saying the site was protected by the Communications Decency Act.

Under the CDA, MySpace is considered an "interactive service." With that designation, it is given immunity to lawsuits that are filed against it over third-party communications. Also, it was found that the girl lied about her age.

MySpace had asked District Judge Sam Sparks to dismiss the charges shortly after they were filed.

The girl, whose identity has been hidden due to her age, was 13 at the time of the attack, whereas the minimum age to join MySpace is 14. On the site, her profile listed her age as 18.

Wednesday's judgment may put into jeopardy another suit against MySpace filed last month in Los Angeles Superior Court. Like this suit, it accused the social networking site of negligence, recklessness, fraud, and negligent representation.

Law firm Barry and Loewy, which represented the family in the case, said it intended to appeal the negligence charge, while refilling the fraud and misrepresentation charges in another court soon.

As the suits mentioned above were filed in state court, the federal ruling would not be binding. However, law experts say the judgment could help MySpace in having the charges dismissed there as well.

Add a Comment (12 Comments)

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By Sakhuluv

edited Sep 8, 2007 - 12:34 PM

Myspace is technically under obligation to their advertisers, and their advertisers include such giants as Capitol One, and Major Universities. Under contract law they are suppose to watch over fraud activities, and the like. Technically a loose for myspace will mean a lost of advertising dollars, or the advertisers will pull out of myspace. The problem with myspace is that they do not check the email address of these folks who join. They let anyone put up a site for any reason, and even pose as famous people, And the con is that these regular folks pretend to be the VIP's around the world when they are really fan sites. It's a scam that the advertisers are involved in. It's time to go after the advertisers.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 7:11 PM

"A negligence lawsuit filed by a Texas family after a 13-year-old girl was assaulted by a 19-year-old man after meeting on MySpace was dismissed Wednesday, with a U.S. District Judge saying the site was protected by the Communications Decency Act."

Note this would never have happened in District # 9--they only protect illegals and terrorists there :)

Thank God there are some judges left in the world with a desire to uphold the law and not a desire to misinterpret it in such a way that is specifically crafted to destroy America...

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 4:01 AM

First of all, if a 19 year old assualted my daughter, they would find him in the trunks of ten different cars.

This MySpace crap is ridiculous, it's just a place for lonely morons to pretend they have real freinds. I still say the parents are always to blame in a case like this, but the scumbag must pay.

Actually, they would never find the guy, not even little parts of him after I was done with him. Lastly, anyone who substitutes a u for the word you is and always will be a loser. Kind of like people who are 30 years old and still smoking dope. I know a few of them, all drains on the economy with no ambition.

MySpace is the epitomy of why the world thinks America is full of complete morons.

Score: 0

By steve17

edited Feb 15, 2007 - 9:02 PM

exactly. bad parenting. nuff said there.

and personally my parents drilled into me the "dont talk to starnders" "dont take rides with stangers" "dont post stuff online for strangers to see" bad parenting and the kid's stupidity sure as hell wasnt myspace's fault.

im a myspace user. im on it daily. anyone who knows how it works will know exactly what im getting at. 99% of the people u will EVER talk to on myspace are friends from school, work, relatives, and other friends. pretty much everyone i have ever talked to is someone i previously met with in person and who i know personally. if some random person u dont know talks to u and asks u to meet them somewhere (as jeff foxworthy says: heres your sign) heres ur sign to STAY AWAY! commom sense should still be somewhere in that 13 yr old's hormonally f*cked up brain right?

did the kid or her parents take their stupid pills lately???

Score: 0

By slinkys_delsol

posted Feb 15, 2007 - 5:58 PM

It's not a Websites issue that your Child is on it. The information that THEY put there is what they want the world to think. Most people on MySpace lie / fake something about themselves in their profile anyway, just like you or I have done on a Job application to get that great paying job.

Blocking a site will do nothing more then entice your child to try to get to it more. It's like Crack to and addict, you take it away from them, they want it more.

The true failure here is the PARENTS in the reasoning of, if you spent more time with your child, they probably would not be on sites like MySpace or Friendster. Today's society blames everything except where it should be blamed, on the PARENT. YOU (The Parent) needs to involve yourself in more of your child's activities. Today's society, especially in America where "Political Correctness" has ruined us and made most Americans a "Sue Happy Nation" are all just looking to be able to point the finger at the other guy.

+ McDonalds did not make you / your child fat, YOU did!

+ Marlboro did not make YOU smoke their product, YOU did!

+ The PC did not create their profile on MySpace, YOUR CHILD DID!

Parents who block their children from things are not allowing them to see the actual dangers. I am not saying you should not look out for their best interest, but you need to let them on places like MySpace and if you want to monitor them, that's fine.

So overall, if your child is on MySpace, tell them not to put to much personal information (Where they live, School the attend, Etc).

Score: 0

By Babylon2x

edited Feb 15, 2007 - 2:01 PM

While I have a little sympathy for who is possibly just a misguided teen (I say possibly, because who's to say she didn't want to do certain activities? let's be honest, kids like doing stuff young these days..) - I am glad the case was thrown out. If such a case was won against MySpace, it opens up a huge can of worms for yet more stupid lawsuits where fault lies with the people themselves, and not a website such as myspace.

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

edited Feb 15, 2007 - 3:53 PM

people always want to push the blame onto others, nobody can stand up and take responsability these days...

and i do wander being only 20 myself, if this case was realyl an assault. i know all too well that a few of my friends have had girls lie to them about age, then do stuff and get thrown in jail for it. whats the world coming to that we need to card our potential dates? although i dont see how you can mistake a 13 year old for an 18 year old, thats just pushing it.

Score: 0

By elyl

posted Feb 15, 2007 - 6:19 PM

"a few of your friends"? How many statutory rapists do you keep company with?

Score: 0

By unistyle

posted Feb 15, 2007 - 7:37 PM

was just going to say the same thing.

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted Feb 16, 2007 - 8:07 AM

two. that i know of, although i guess aquaintence from highschool is a better term.

Score: 0

By Silentmaster101

posted Feb 15, 2007 - 11:57 AM

Good. Where were the parents when their little girl decided to sign up as an 18 year old and post lewd photos of her self on the web? where were the parents when she started talking with this 19 year old online? where were the parents when she decided to meet with him? and where were the parents when he was meeting with her? This entire case stinks of bad parenting, and they are looking for a scapegoat so they dont feel bad about what happened, so that the blame doesnt fall on them. I mean sure if this really was an assault, its horrible it happened, but maybe this case is just some 19 year old, getting pinned for making moves on a girl he THOUGHT was 18? The internet is just as dangerous, as the city, and people need to realize this. people dont tell their kids to go play in the city unsupervised, so why do it with the internet? chalk another victim up to bad parenting.

Score: 0

By GCoder

posted Feb 15, 2007 - 12:10 PM

Damn straight!

Score: 0

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