Doe v. Cahill
Encyclopedia
Doe v. Cahill, 884 A.2d 451
(Del. 2005), is a significant case in the realm of anonymous internet speech and the First Amendment
. While similar issues had been tackled involving criticism of a publicly traded company , the case marks the first time a U.S. State Supreme Court addressed the issue of anonymous internet speech and defamation "in the context of a case involving political criticism of a public figure."
. The website was sponsored by the Delaware State News. The guidelines for use of the blog simply stated "[t]his is your hometown forum for opinions about public issues."
On September 18, 2004 Doe posted the following statement:
On September 19, 2004 Doe added:
It was these two internet postings that formed the basis for the legal action discussed below.
The Superior Court permitted discovery of Doe's identity under the good faith standard. This good faith standard was famously applied in In re Subpoena to AOL, where the court concluded that anonymous identities should be revealed only if:
The Delaware Supreme Court disagreed with this standard. The court rejected the good faith standard due to the danger of bringing suit simply to reveal identity without any intention of pursuing the defamation action to a final decision. This, the court concluded, would have a chilling effect
on free speech on the internet in contradiction to the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court then turned to Ramunno v. Cawley as an example of the motion to dismiss standard being applied to a similar case. The court used Ramunno as an example of a motion to dismiss standard failing to screen "silly or trivial defamation suits."
Thus, the court concluded, that in order to provide sufficient protection of anonymous internet speech and the First Amendment, a summary judgement standard is necessary. The court chose to base its summary judgement standard off of the precedent set by Dendrite International, Inc. v. Doe No. 3
. In Dendrite the court held that a summary judgement standard "is the appropriate test by which to strike the balance between a defamation plaintiff’s right to protect his reputation and a defendant’s right to exercise free speech anonymously." The Dendrite test developed in this decision has four prongs as described in Doe v. Cahill:
(1) to undertake efforts to notify the anonymous poster that he is the
subject of a subpoena or application for an order of disclosure,
and to withhold action to afford the anonymous defendant a
reasonable opportunity to file and serve opposition to the
application. In the internet context, the plaintiff’s efforts should
include posting a message of notification of the discovery request
to the anonymous defendant on the same message board as the
original allegedly defamatory posting;
(2) to set forth the exact statements purportedly made by the
anonymous poster that the plaintiff alleges constitute defamatory
speech; and
(3) to satisfy the or “summary judgment standard.”
Finally, after the trial court concluded that the plaintiff has presented a prima
facie cause of action, the Dendrite test requires the trial court to:
(4) balance the defendant’s First Amendment right of anonymous
free speech against the strength of the case presented
and the necessity for the disclosure of the anonymous defendant’s
identity in determining whether to allow the plaintiff to properly
proceed.
In this case, the court holds that only the first and third prongs of the Dendrite test are relevant, and thus adopts a summary judgement standard based on these two prongs.
in 2007 and still serves as the standard for anonymous internet speech and defamation "in the context of a case involving political criticism of a public figure."
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(Del. 2005), is a significant case in the realm of anonymous internet speech and the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
. While similar issues had been tackled involving criticism of a publicly traded company , the case marks the first time a U.S. State Supreme Court addressed the issue of anonymous internet speech and defamation "in the context of a case involving political criticism of a public figure."
Background
In 2004 an anonymous internet user, referred to in the decision as Doe, posted comments under the alias "Proud Citizen" on a website called the "Smyrna/Clayton Issues Blog" regarding the performance of Patrick and Julia Cahill as City Councilman of SmyrnaSmyrna, Delaware
Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. The website was sponsored by the Delaware State News. The guidelines for use of the blog simply stated "[t]his is your hometown forum for opinions about public issues."
On September 18, 2004 Doe posted the following statement:
- If only Councilman Cahill was able to display the same leadership skills,
- energy and enthusiasm toward the revitalization and growth of
- the fine town of Smyrna as Mayor Schaeffer has demonstrated! While
- Mayor Schaeffer has made great strides toward improving the
- livelihood of Smyrna’s citizens, Cahill has devoted all of his energy to
- being a divisive impediment to any kind of cooperative movement.
- Anyone who has spent any amount of time with Cahill would be keenly
- aware of such character flaws, not to mention an obvious mental
- deterioration. Cahill is a prime example of failed leadership – his
- eventual ousting is exactly what Smyrna needs in order to move
- forward and establish a community that is able to thrive on its own
- economic stability and common pride in its town.
On September 19, 2004 Doe added:
- Gahill [sic] is as paranoid as everyone in the town thinks he is. The
- mayor needs support from his citizens and protections from
- unfounded attacks…
It was these two internet postings that formed the basis for the legal action discussed below.
Legal Timeline
The legal actions that led to the Delaware Supreme Court case proceeded as follows:- November 2, 2004: The Cahills file suit against Doe (and 3 other anonymous internet posters) claiming defamation and invasion of privacyInvasion of privacyUnited States privacy law embodies several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into his or her private affairs, discloses his or her private information,...
. - The Cahills conduct a pre-service deposition of Independent Newspapers (which owned the internet blog) and obtained the IP addressIP addressAn Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...
es associated with Doe's postings. - The Cahills learn that these IP addresses are owned by the Comcast CorporationComcastComcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and obtain a court order requiring Comcast to disclose Doe's identity. - Comcast notifies Doe of the Cahills' request to disclose identity, as required by federal law.
- January 4, 2005: Doe files an "Emergency Motion for a Protective Order" to block Comcast from disclosing his identity to the Cahills.
- June 14, 2005: Superior Court trial judge denies Doe's motion for a protective order, using a "good faith" standard for "determining when a defamation plaintiff could compel the disclosure of the identity of an anonymous plaintiff."
- June 28, 2005: Doe appeals the decision by Superior Court and the case is accepted by the Delaware Supreme Court.
Adoption of Standard
As this was the first trial of its kind, the court took upon itself the task of establishing an acceptable standard for deciding a discovery request to reveal the identity of an anonymous defendant alleged to have posted defamatory material on the internet by a public figure plaintiff. The court began by reviewing the possible spectrum of applicable standards over which the court must chose as the standard for this and similar cases. In ascending order the possible standards are "good faith basis to assert a claim, ...pleading sufficient facts to survive a motion to dismiss, [and] ...showing of prima facie evidence sufficient to withstand a motion for summary judgement."The Superior Court permitted discovery of Doe's identity under the good faith standard. This good faith standard was famously applied in In re Subpoena to AOL, where the court concluded that anonymous identities should be revealed only if:
- The court is satisfied with pleadings and evidence
- The party bringing suit or subpoena had legitimate, good faith basis for actions
- The identity information is central to the claim
The Delaware Supreme Court disagreed with this standard. The court rejected the good faith standard due to the danger of bringing suit simply to reveal identity without any intention of pursuing the defamation action to a final decision. This, the court concluded, would have a chilling effect
Chilling effect
In a legal context, a chilling effect is the term used to describe the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise of a constitutional right by the threat of legal sanction. The right that is most often described as being supressed by a chilling effect is the right to free speech...
on free speech on the internet in contradiction to the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court then turned to Ramunno v. Cawley as an example of the motion to dismiss standard being applied to a similar case. The court used Ramunno as an example of a motion to dismiss standard failing to screen "silly or trivial defamation suits."
Thus, the court concluded, that in order to provide sufficient protection of anonymous internet speech and the First Amendment, a summary judgement standard is necessary. The court chose to base its summary judgement standard off of the precedent set by Dendrite International, Inc. v. Doe No. 3
Dendrite International, Inc. v. Doe No. 3
Dendrite International, Inc. v. Doe No. 3, A-2774-00T3 , is a New Jersey Superior Court case in which Dendrite International, Inc., a purveyor of computer software used in the pharmaceutical industry, brought a John Doe lawsuit against individuals who had anonymously posted criticisms of the...
. In Dendrite the court held that a summary judgement standard "is the appropriate test by which to strike the balance between a defamation plaintiff’s right to protect his reputation and a defendant’s right to exercise free speech anonymously." The Dendrite test developed in this decision has four prongs as described in Doe v. Cahill:
(1) to undertake efforts to notify the anonymous poster that he is the
subject of a subpoena or application for an order of disclosure,
and to withhold action to afford the anonymous defendant a
reasonable opportunity to file and serve opposition to the
application. In the internet context, the plaintiff’s efforts should
include posting a message of notification of the discovery request
to the anonymous defendant on the same message board as the
original allegedly defamatory posting;
(2) to set forth the exact statements purportedly made by the
anonymous poster that the plaintiff alleges constitute defamatory
speech; and
(3) to satisfy the or “summary judgment standard.”
Finally, after the trial court concluded that the plaintiff has presented a prima
facie cause of action, the Dendrite test requires the trial court to:
(4) balance the defendant’s First Amendment right of anonymous
free speech against the strength of the case presented
and the necessity for the disclosure of the anonymous defendant’s
identity in determining whether to allow the plaintiff to properly
proceed.
In this case, the court holds that only the first and third prongs of the Dendrite test are relevant, and thus adopts a summary judgement standard based on these two prongs.
The Decision
Applying the summary judgement standard described above, the judgement of the superior court was reversed, the case was remanded back to the superior court with instructions to dismiss the plaintiff's claim with prejudice. Therefore, Doe was permitted to remain anonymous.Aftermath of the Precedent
Doe v. Cahill represented another victory for the protection of free anonymous speech on the internet. The precedent was notably applied in Mobilisa, Inc. v. DoeMobilisa, Inc. v. Doe
Mobilisa v. Doe was a lawsuit filed in 2005 by Mobilisa Inc.,, a Washington based company that provides wireless and mobile communications to government and military clients. The case against John Doe, the anonymous sender of an email using the service "The Suggestion Box"...
in 2007 and still serves as the standard for anonymous internet speech and defamation "in the context of a case involving political criticism of a public figure."