Ever wonder if your website's content could get you into trouble?  Ever wonder if your website could cause you to get sued in a court far away—maybe thousands of miles away?  If so, then read on and heed my advice.  It could just save you hundreds of thousands of dollars....

Ok, here’s the case, and you're the judge......

Famous singer “Carmen” employs a personal manager named “Rendy” to help manage Carmen’s concert tour dates.  One year (and several tour dates later), Carmen and Rendy go their separate ways. 

Sometime later, Rendy, sitting in his home in Tennessee, creates a website which implies that Carmen still endorses Rendy as a personal manager. 

Carmen, who lives in Florida, is not happy that Rendy is using Carmen’s trademark name, and sues Rendy in Florida for trademark infringement. 

Everyone agrees that Rendy has no significant contacts in Florida, i.e., no office in Florida, no agents in Florida, no employees in Florida, and no property in Florida.  In fact, the only connection that Rendy has to Florida is that, years before, Rendy traveled to Florida to help manage Carmen’s career.

But now, Rendy is being pulled into a Florida court because of what Rendy posted on his website.  Rendy asks you—the judge—to dismiss the case against him, arguing that he shouldn't be forced to travel to Florida to defend himself.

You’re the judge: how would you rule?

Now, you might think that Rendy should have expected to be pulled into the State of Florida because he violated the trademark of Carmen, a Florida resident. 

But on the other hand, should the whereabouts of the injured person ultimately determine where a case can be brought?  What if Carmen decided to move to Alaska?  Would (or should) Rendy be required to defend himself in Anchorage just because Carmen wanted to live, however fleetingly, in the wild north?

This is the exact issue addressed by a recent case from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals entitled, Licciardello v. Lovelady.  The court's decision—which may surprise many of you—has serious implications for anyone who maintains a website or posts content to a website.

In Licciardello, the court found that Carmen's lawsuit was properly filed in Florida, and that Rendy would be required to travel from Tennessee to Florida to defend himself.  Ouch.

Surprised?  Then chew on this: most (if not all) federal courts would come to the exact same conclusion. 

In the words of V.P.-elect Joe Biden, "Let me repeat that": despite the fact that Rendy had no significant connection to the State of Florida (no property, no house, no offices, no employees, no business whatsoever in Florida), Rendy was required to travel to Florida based on the content of his website—a website that was created and maintained in Tennessee.

Why?  Because of a simple yet relatively unknown wrinkle in the law of jurisdiction relating to "intentional" acts and website content.  Simply put: if you post something on a website that intentionally impacts someone in a foreign state, you likely subject yourself to that foreign state's jurisdiction, whether you want to or not. 

So, for example, if you post something defamatory about someone who lives in Puerto Rico, then pack your bathing suit and sunscreen, and book the next flight to San Juan (I hear it's lovely down there this time of year....)  Similarly, if you're in Los Angeles and you post content to a website about someone in Miami,  then get ready for a trans-continental flight and, as they say, "Bienvendios a Miami."

At this point, some of you are probably saying, "But my website has a 'terms and conditions' document that limits jurisdiction to my home state.  Doesn't that protect me?"

Answer: no.  Intentional acts will likely subject you to foreign jurisdiction regardless of what your website may or may not say. 

The point is this: be careful what you post on your website, and don't assume that foreign courts can't exert jurisdiction over you just because you're sitting hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away. 

My advice: if you're thinking about creating a website that may be "controversial" or including content about a person or company in a foreign state, call your attorney before putting pen to paper (or, in this case, fingers to keyboard).  Don't post content and ask questions later.  If you call your attorney before you make waves online, you may just save yourself tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

(That is unless, of course, you enjoy spontaneous travel under the cloud of litigation and the weight of lawyers' fees, in which case you should ignore my advice and do as you please.  After all, somebody's got to keep the litigators in business.....)

Questions? Let me know........Happy Thanksgiving everybody.