Zeran v. America Online, Inc.

129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Between April 25-30, 1995, an unknown party posted messages on an AOL (D) bulletin board offering for sale under Zeran's name, 'Naughty Oklahoma T-Shirts' featuring offensive and tasteless comments related to the bombing of the federal building in April 19, 1995. Interested parties were told to call Ken at P's home. P was bombarded with angry and hostile messages including death threats. P immediately and repeatedly implored D to remove the offensive postings. P was repeatedly assured that this was done, but it was not. By April 30, 1995, hostile messages were coming in at the rate of one every two minutes. P could not delist his number as he used it for business. An Oklahoma City radio announcer got a copy of the message and put its contents on the air on May 1, 1995. P was inundated with death threats. Over the next few days, P talked with the radio station, and D. P even had to ask for police protection. By May 14, the local newspaper exposed the ad as a hoax against P, the radio station apologized on air, and eventually, the calls subsided to 15 per day. P sued D for defamation for an unreasonable delay in removing the messages, for not allowing P to post a retraction and for failing to screen postings thereafter. The District Court granted judgment to D based on 47 U.S.C. Section 230. P appealed.