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Judge dismisses Illinois sheriff's Craigslist lawsuit

By Kenneth Corbin on October 23, 2009 1:02 PM

A federal judge has dismissed the case an Illinois sheriff brought against Craigslist to force it to remove its adult services listings.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart filed the lawsuit in March, calling Craigslist the "largest source of prostitution in America."

District Court Judge John Grady rejected Dart's claim that Craigslist is a "public nuisance" that plays an active role in facilitating unlawful activity.

"[Dart] alleges for example that Craigslist knowingly 'arranges' meetings for the purpose of prostitution and 'directs' people to places of prostitution. But these allegations strain the ordinary meaning of the terms 'arrange' and 'direct' unless Craigslist itself created the offending ads. There is no such allegation, and ... we cannot treat Craigslist as if it did create those ads," he wrote (ruling available as PDF here).

Dart's complaint was targeted at Craigslist's "erotic services" section, which the company has since removed, replacing it with "adult services" listings, which it says are subject to frequent manual review to screen out illegal activity. Dart contended that the change was cosmetic, and that prostitution continued to flourish through the site.

The judge accepted Craigslist's defense that, like newspaper classified ads, the people who post the listings are responsible for the content, and that Craigslist has implemented explicit rules prohibiting unlawful activity.

"Intermediaries are not culpable for 'aiding and abetting' their customers who misuse their services to commit unlawful acts," Grady wrote.

"While we accept as true for the purposes of this motion [the] plaintiff's allegation that users routinely flout Craigslist's guidelines, it is not because Craigslist has caused them to do so."

He concluded:

"Sheriff Dart may continue to use Craigslist's Web site to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content. But he cannot sue Craigslist for their conduct."

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