Steinbuch v. Cutler, No. 05-970 (D.D.C. May 16, 2007)
Back in late October 2006, the court in the case of Steinbuch v. Cutler allowed the infamous blogger Ana Marie Cox a/k/a Wonkette to be added as a defendant. [Read about that here.] The case raised the question of whether simply linking to another site could subject a blogger to tort liability. We’re now learning that Wonkette has been dismissed.
The court’s order granting the motion to dismiss hasn’t been loaded onto PACER yet, but here is a copy of the motion and brief Wonkette filed back in January. In that motion, she argued a number of reasons why the case against her should be dismissed, including immunity under the Communications Decency Act [at 47 U.S.C. 230]. It isn’t clear yet what the exact basis for dismissing the case was, but, according to this article the court agreed that the claims were time-barred.
The day after Wonkette was added to the suit, Eric Goldman suggested that Section 230 immunity would apply. And Wonkette’s brief is a nice walk down Section 230 lane.