The plaintiffs claim that the defendants' conduct constitutes per se negligence under California tort law because it violates the Federal Communications Decency Act, which prohibits individuals from making available computer programs or images on the Internet that are harmful to children. The Decency Act contains a cause of action for individuals to sue violators in either federal or state court. Second, the Zemels claim that ESJ, Friends, and Omy, Ferragamo, Kidney, and Courtin have violated a California statute that prohibits individuals from designing computer programs that can be used by others to harass or injure third-parties. Plaintiffs acknowledge in the press that they brought suit in California state court, rather than in Washington, D.C. or in federal court, because under California law the defendants must carry the burden of proof to show that the children were not harmed, while under D.C. and federal judge-made law the parents must carry the burden to show harm. Washington, D.C. also has no statute similar to the California law that forms the basis of plaintiffs' second claim.
Defendants move to remove the case to the Northern District of California.
Judge Masback, who is presiding over this case, asks you for a memo that analyzes each issue raised by the parties and that recommends how he should decide each one. For several years, concern has been rising in Washington, D.C. that the American legal system has been imposing a drag on economic growth and national competitiveness. Several Senators and Members of the House of both parties believe that the nation's system of different state personal jurisdiction laws, different state liability laws, and different state procedures imposes undue costs on domestic businesses, which experience difficulty in predicting the application of state law to their activities. They also believe that this patchwork quilt of laws discourages foreign corporations and investors from doing business in the United States. Write an essay discussing the merits of the proposed statute.