Internet Postings Alone Do Not Constitute "Doing Business" in New York for out of State Resident: Gary Null & Assoc., Inc. V Phillips (Courtside‪)‬

This interesting decision concerns the new and rapidly developing area of law of the World Wide Web. In this case, the question was whether a person who posts an allegedly defamatory statement on the internet while sitting at home in Washington D.C. can be dragged into the New York courts on the premise that because the statements can be accessed on the Web by New Yorkers, the defendant is "doing business" in New York. This court held that on this set of facts, the answer is no. In this action for defamation based on internet communications, defendant moves for an order pursuant to CPLR 3212(a)(5), (7) and (8) dismissing the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction, for failure to state a cause of action and as time-barred by the statute of limitations. Plaintiff Gary Null & Associates, Inc. commenced the action on July 24, 2009. The complaint alleges that defendant Lee Phillips "is a resident of Washington, D.C.," and assets a first cause of action for defamation, seeking $10,000,000 in damages, and a second cause of action for "injunctive relief directing defendant Phillips "to immediately and permanently take the aforementioned articles off of the Internet." As to the specific allegedly defamatory statements, the complaint alleges that: 1) on or about April 18, 2008, Phillips "wrote and placed an open letter on the Internet entitled Open Letter to WPRW: Gary Null's Hazardous Broadcast," stating "I realize he refers to himself as Dr. Null, and likes to decorate his name with a Ph.D., but his degree turns out to be as bogus as the M.S. that he sometimes puts after his name on publications"; 2) on or about April 21, 2008, Phillips "wrote and placed on the Internet an article entitled Gary Null's Goons Threaten to Sue Me: My Response," stating "then we can move on to his bogus credentials'"; 3) on or about May 2008, Phillips, published on the internet "another article, Does Gary Null have a real Ph.D,' in which he further discredits Null's academic credentials"; and 4) on November 6, 2008, Phillips published an article on the internet stating "Indeed, Gary Null is a real nutjob. His Ph.D happen to be bogus.'" With respect to the foregoing statements, the complaint alleges that Phillips, "in his articles, falsely asserts that Null never received a doctorate degree and that his degree is bogus,'" and that "[i]n fact, Dr. Null graduated from Union Institute & University, an accredited university, with a Ph.D degree in human nutrition." The complaint also alleges that Philips' "placement of these articles on the internet" was negligence, causing special harm, which constitutes defamation per se.