• Mar. 28, 2008 - Craigslist Not Liable for FHA Violations
Craigslist Not Liable for FHA Violations
A federal appellate court has considered whether the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (“Act”) protected a website on which users posted notices about available housing from allegations that postings on the website violated the federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”).
Craigslist, Inc. (“Website”) operates a website which allows users to post information about jobs, items for sale, personals, and housing opportunities, among other things. The Website allows postings from both users who are either seeking or offering housing for sale or lease. The users communicate with each other if they are interested in the products or services being offered on the Website. The Website does not edit users’ posts.
The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. (“Committee”) is a nonprofit entity supported by a consortium of forty-five law firms. The Committee’s mission is to promote and protect civil rights, especially the civil rights of the poor, ethnic minorities, and the disadvantaged. The Committee is trying to eliminate discriminatory housing practices by providing education to consumers as well as offering free legal services to those who suffer from illegal housing discrimination.
The Committee filed a lawsuit against the Website for violations of the FHA. The lawsuit alleged that the Website publishes housing advertisements which exhibit a preference, limitation, or discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, and familial status. The FHA makes it illegal to “make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.”
The Committee’s FHA claims relate to the Website’s role as a publisher of the allegedly discriminatory statements on the Website. The Committee set forth numerous examples found on the Website in its lawsuit, such as posts stating “NO MINORITIES” or “No Children”. The trial court ruled that the Act protected the Website from liability, and so ruled in its favor. The Committee appealed.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the trial court. The Act contains a provision which states that “[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” The Act clarifies its effect on other laws by specifically exempting its effect on federal criminal laws, intellectual property laws, and certain federal privacy laws. The Act does not mention the FHA.
The issue before the court was whether the Website qualified for the Act’s protections. Other courts have ruled that the Act protects the operators of interactive computer services from liability for third-party content, including when the allegations involved violations of the FHA. The Committee argued that the Act only applied if the Website used a method to filter the content of user’s website postings, while the Website argued that it had “immunity” from lawsuits.
While the court disagreed with both readings of the Act, the court still affirmed the trial court. The Act states that an online service provider is not “treated as the publisher or speaker of any information” provided by someone else. The plain language of the statute was clear that the Website was not the “publisher” of statements posted by third parties, and so it was not liable for the postings which allegedly violated the FHA. The court stated that the Committee could peruse the Website to identify problem posters and target them for discrimination testing or compile a list of violators for prosecution. But the Website was not liable for the posters’ alleged FHA violations, and so the court affirmed the trial court.
Chicago Lawyers' Comm. for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc., No. 07-1101, 2008 WL 681168 (7th Cir. Mar. 14, 2008). [This is a citation to a Westlaw document. Westlaw is a subscription, online legal research service. If an official reporter citation should become available for this case, the citation will be updated to reflect this information]. |
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