Volume IV

Issue : 20: November 30, 2006

• U.S. Court of Appeals Denies Claim under CAN SPAM Act
• California Supreme Court Rules Online Republishers not Liable for Third Party Postings
• Movie Studios Bring Action over Movies on iPods
• Craigslist Receives Favourable Ruling on Housing Listings
• Nova Scotias New Privacy Legislation to Counter U.S. Patriot Act
• Zillow.com Accused of Racial Discrimination When Valuing Homes
• Microsoft Catches Phishers
• The Big Three Search Engines Collaborate with Sitemaps Project
• The McDonalds Sandwich Patent
• Supreme Court of Canada Recognizes the Right to Enforce a Foreign Non Monetary Judgment

Home > Volume IV > Issue 20: November 30, 2006 > Craigslist Receives Favourable Ruling on Housing Listings

Craigslist Receives Favourable Ruling on Housing Listings

A decision by Judge Amy J. St. Eve of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, has dismissed a claim by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (“CLC”) which alleges that the popular Internet classified ad website Craigslist is liable for the posting of allegedly discriminatory housing ads on the Craigslist Chicago website. The ruling favors the immunity provisions of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”) over the anti-discriminatory provisions of the Fair Housing Act.

The CDA provides that “no provider...of an interactive computer service shall be treated as a publisher...of any information provided by another information content provider”, which includes Craigslist. However, the court did reject Craigslist’s submission that the section granted immunity to all causes of action, despite prior authority in support of the position. Judge St. Eve’s decision states that the immunity only applies to third-party content published by the provider. The CLC has indicated they will appeal the decision or ask the judge to reconsider.

For a copy of the decision, visit:

http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/clc_v_craigslist/craigslist_decision.pdf