Lunney v. Prodigy Services Co., 94 N.Y.2d 242 (1999)

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is generally not liable for defamatory content posted by third parties, either via email or bulletin boards, unless the ISP actively participates in creating or controlling the content.

Summary

Alexander Lunney sued Prodigy after an imposter opened accounts under his name and posted defamatory content, including a threatening email and vulgar bulletin board messages. The court addressed whether Prodigy could be held liable for defamation or negligence. The court held that Prodigy was not liable as a publisher of the defamatory content, drawing an analogy to telephone companies, which are not expected to monitor their users’ communications. The court emphasized the impracticality of requiring ISPs to screen millions of messages and affirmed the dismissal of Lunney’s complaint.

Facts

An imposter opened multiple accounts with Prodigy under Alexander Lunney’s name. The imposter sent a threatening and vulgar email to a scoutmaster and posted vulgar messages on Prodigy’s bulletin boards, all under Lunney’s name. The scoutmaster alerted the police and Lunney’s scoutmaster, who both quickly accepted Lunney’s denial of authorship. Prodigy terminated one of the accounts due to the offensive material and inaccurate profile information. Lunney informed Prodigy that an imposter was responsible. Prodigy apologized and closed the remaining accounts. Lunney then sued Prodigy, claiming the ISP was responsible for allowing the accounts to be opened and for the resulting defamation and stigma.

Procedural History

The Supreme Court denied Prodigy’s motions for summary judgment. The Appellate Division reversed, granting summary judgment to Prodigy, finding that the messages were not