TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Lawsuit Tossed Out

Lawsuit Tossed Out

Joe Mandak, Associated Press (ap@telecom-digest.org)
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:37:36 -0500

Judge tosses date-dissing Web suit
By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press Writer

A Florida-based Web site that invites women to warn others about men
they've dated cannot be sued in a Pennsylvania court by an attorney
who said its postings falsely claimed he was unfaithful and had
sexually transmitted diseases.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. said he had
no jurisdiction over the lawsuit Todd Hollis filed last June against
DontDateHimGirl.com and its creator, Tasha C. Cunningham, 34, of
Miami.

Hollis, of Pittsburgh, claimed Cunningham's site is liable because it
solicits negative comments but does not screen them for truthfulness.
Hollis also is suing those who posted comments that questioned his
sexuality and claimed he tried to dodge paying child support.

Cunningham and her attorneys say a 1996 federal law shields Web sites
from such lawsuits when they merely transmit user postings.

Wettick did not address that issue and ruled simply that
Pennsylvania's court system has no jurisdiction over a Florida Web
site, even though Pennsylvanians post messages on it.

The ruling, issued last week, does not address Hollis' still-pending
claims against women who posted the messages. One of the women has
denied making any posts. Another acknowledged posting comments but
denied damaging his reputation.

Hollis said he has not decided whether to sue the Web site again in
another venue.

Cunningham's date-dissing site has tripled in size since the lawsuit
was filed, with 27,000 profiles that she markets as "a new
cost-effective weapon in the war on cheating men; a sort of 'credit-
bureau' to report men's habits to women they date." Cunningham works
full-time on the site and is developing others, including a
Spanish-language version that will launch in June.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

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