Opinion ID: 205620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Stewart defendantsspecific jurisdiction based on defamatory email allegedly sent to large list of addressees

Text: The analysis of specific jurisdiction over the Stewart defendants based on the drafting and sending of the offending email overlaps in substantial part with the analysis of specific jurisdiction over Mr. Biddinger for his later posting of the email on the Wave59 forum. That is, insofar as the focal point of the message is concerned, what we said above regarding the lack of any inherent tie to Oklahoma is obviously equally pertinent here. But that still leaves the critical issue of the audience targeted by the email. And on this point the analysis could potentially diverge significantly, given the targeted nature of email, which is sent to a particular recipient, compared to the indiscriminate accessibility of an internet forum. Here, the apt analogues may be phone calls, faxes, and letters made or sent by out-of-state defendants to forum residents. These have been found sufficient to support specific personal jurisdiction when they directly give rise to the cause of action (typically for fraud effected by the communication), see, e.g., Neal v. Janssen, 270 F.3d 328, 332 (6th Cir. 2001); Oriental Trading Co. v. Firetti, 236 F.3d 938, 943 (8th Cir.2001); Wien Air Alaska, Inc. v. Brandt, 195 F.3d 208, 212-13 (5th Cir. 1999); While case law involving defamation-by-email is less plentiful, a number of district court decisions have followed suit to find specific jurisdiction over out-of-state emailers. See, e.g., Middlebrook v. Anderson, No. Civ. A. 3:04-CV-2294, 2005 WL 350578, at - (N.D.Tex. Feb. 11, 2005) (unpub.) (citing several decisions recognizing specific personal jurisdiction based, at least in part, on emails sent into forum state); Mark Hanby Ministries, Inc. v. Lubet, No. 1:06-CV-114, 2007 WL 1004169, at  (E.D.Tenn. Mar. 30, 2007) (unpub.). There is, however, a distinguishing characteristic of email that must be taken into account. Although email is directed to particular recipients, email addresses typically do not reveal anything about the geographic location of the addressee. Thus, if the plaintiff does not show that the defendant otherwise knew where the recipient was located, the email itself does not demonstrate purposeful direction of the message to the forum state, even if that happens to be where the recipient lived. See Rice v. Karsch, 154 Fed. Appx. 454, 462 (6th Cir.2005); Watiti v. Walden Univ., No. CIV. A. 07-4782(IAP), 2008 WL 2280932, at - (D.N.J. May 30, 2008) (unpub.). Here, Mr. Shrader alleged that Mr. Stewart sent the email to thousands of customers and knew that some of them resided in Oklahoma. If this were all we had to consider, Mr. Shrader might have satisfied his burden on personal jurisdiction, provided his allegation qualified as a plausible, non-conclusory, and non-speculative fact to be accepted for purposes of the jurisdictional analysis under Dudnikov, 514 F.3d at 1070. But there is more to consider, as Mr. Stewart submitted affidavits averring generally that he did not send the email to all of his clients and specifically that he did not send it to anyone in Oklahoma. R. vol. 1 at 266, para. 5; 422, para. 6. As Mr. Stewart emphasizes, even well-pleaded jurisdictional allegations are not accepted as true once they are controverted by affidavit (here, based on personal knowledge of the party with direct access to the operative facts). See Wenz v. Memery Crystal, 55 F.3d 1503, 1505 (10th Cir.1995). Thus, absent an opposing showing by Mr. Shrader, through specific averments, verified allegations, or other evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of fact, Mr. Stewart's affidavits carry the issue. See, e.g., Am. Land Program, Inc. v. Bonaventura Uitgevers Maatschappij, N.V., 710 F.2d 1449, 1454 n. 2 (10th Cir.1983). Mr. Shrader did not submit any evidence, or even offer the name, of a single Oklahoma resident who received the email from Mr. Stewart. The record does contain a copy of a post to the Wave59 forum dated November 29, 2009, in which a member (identified only as Bart) refers to his receipt of what clearly sounds like the Stewart email, in a form suggesting that it had had a wide distribution: I received a form or bulk email from Sacred Science Institute that they were discontinuing the publication of [Mr. Shrader's] work. The email said that most of the secret material was widely available in other Fibonacci texts so the list of books that others have shared [in posts on the forum] is probably your best bet. R. vol. 1 at 506. But all this post indicates is that Mr. Stewart sent the email in bulk fashion to multiple recipients (which he never denied); it does not indicate that any of the recipients resided in Oklahoma, much less that Mr. Stewart knew they resided there when he sent the email. In sum, Mr. Shrader failed to make a prima facie showing that Mr. Stewart directed the allegedly defamatory email to anyone in Oklahoma. Under principles we have previously discussed, that is a fatal deficiency in his case for specific personal jurisdiction over the Stewart defendants. Having analyzed the pertinent facts in light of the governing law, we agree with the district court's determination that Mr. Shrader failed to establish personal jurisdiction over any of the defendants. Thus, unless some procedural error tainted the proceedings leading to that determination, we must affirm the district court's dismissal of the action. We turn, therefore, to the other objections raised by Mr. Shrader on this appeal.