DOE V. WEBGROUP CZECH REPUBLIC, A.S., No. 22-55315 (9th Cir. 2024)
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In this case, the plaintiff, a victim of sex trafficking, brought a putative class action against various entities, including foreign-based defendants who operated websites on which videos of her abuse were uploaded and viewed. The district court dismissed the claims against the foreign-based defendants for lack of personal jurisdiction. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and vacated in part, holding that the district court erred in its conclusion.
The Ninth Circuit found that the plaintiff had established a prima facie case for the exercise of specific personal jurisdiction over two foreign defendants, WebGroup Czech Republic, a.s. ("WGCZ") and NKL Associates, s.r.o. ("NKL"), which operated the websites. The court concluded that the plaintiff had shown that these defendants had purposefully directed their activities toward the United States, that her claims arose from these forum-related activities, and that the exercise of jurisdiction would be reasonable.
The court based its decision on several factors. WGCZ and NKL had contracted with U.S.-based content delivery network services to ensure faster website loading times and a more seamless viewing experience for U.S. users, demonstrating that they had actively targeted the U.S. market. They also profited significantly from U.S. web traffic. Furthermore, the harm the plaintiff suffered—namely, the publication of videos of her abuse on the defendants' websites—had occurred in the U.S., and a substantial volume of the widespread publication of the videos occurred in the U.S.
As for the remaining foreign defendants, the court vacated the district court's dismissal of them because it was based solely on the incorrect assumption that there was no personal jurisdiction over WGCZ and NKL. The court remanded the case for further proceedings to determine whether personal jurisdiction could be asserted against these additional defendants.
Court Description: Personal Jurisdiction. The panel reversed in part and vacated in part the district court’s dismissal, for lack of personal jurisdiction, of claims asserted against 11 foreign-based defendants in a putative class action alleging that defendants violated federal and California law by participating in, or benefitting from, the distribution of videos on the internet that depicted the sexual abuse of Plaintiff and of other victims of childhood-sex- trafficking.
At least four of the videos depicting Plaintiff were uploaded to two pornography websites, which use English as their default language but are respectively operated by two related Czech entities, Defendants WebGroup Czech Republic, a.s. and NKL Associates, s.r.o. Both entities have their principal place of business in the Czech Republic, and neither has offices, conducts business operations, or is registered to do business in the United States. Plaintiff filed this putative class action against WGCZ, NKL, and nine additional foreign defendants (collectively, the “Foreign Defendants”), and five U.S.-based defendants.
Plaintiff contended that personal jurisdiction over the Foreign Defendants is authorized by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2). Whether personal jurisdiction exists under Rule 4(k)(2) turns on whether the requirements of the Due Process Clause are satisfied. Because Plaintiff did not contend that the Foreign Defendants’ contacts with the United States were sufficient to give rise to general jurisdiction, the sole potential basis for personal jurisdiction was specific jurisdiction over the particular matters at issue in this lawsuit.
The panel held that the district court erred in holding that it lacked specific personal jurisdiction against WGCZ and NKL under the requisite three-part due process test because (1) Plaintiff established a prima facie case that WGCZ and NKL purposefully directed their websites at the United States, (2) her claims seek redress for harms that arise from WGCZ’s and NKL’s forum-related activities in targeting their websites towards the U.S. market, and (3) WGCZ and NKL failed to make a compelling showing that the exercise of personal jurisdiction would be unreasonable.
The panel therefore reversed the district court’s dismissal of the action against WGCZ and NKL for lack of personal jurisdiction. Because the district court dismissed the remaining nine Foreign Defendants solely on the ground that there was no personal jurisdiction over WGCZ and NKL, the panel vacated the dismissal of those additional defendants. The panel instructed the district court to address on remand the remaining unresolved issues concerning whether personal jurisdiction may be asserted against those additional defendants.
Concurring, Judge Lee wrote separately to state that it would have been prudent for the district court to have ordered very limited jurisdictional discovery here, which would have tethered the district court’s analysis more tightly onto this circuit’s personal jurisdiction framework.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on January 2, 2024.
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