A federal judge in St. Louis tossed a sex trafficking lawsuit filed by a runaway teenager against Village Voice Media, saying federal law protects websites from such suits.
The girl, identified by the initials M.A. in the lawsuit, claimed the newspaper conglomerate knowingly allowing her pimp to advertise the girl’s sexual services on backpage.com, one of its companies’ websites.
Backpage.com’s alleged actions aren’t distinguishable from “any other website that posted content that led to an innocent person’s injury,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Mummert III said in his order Monday. “Congress has declared such websites to be immune from suits arising from such injuries.”
Neither Robert Pedroli, an attorney with Clayton firm Pedroli & Gauthier representing M.A., nor Thompson Coburn attorney Michael Nepple, who represents Village Voice, were immediately available for comment.
Last year, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster contributed his signature to a call by 21 attorneys general for backpage.com to shut down the adult services section of its website, saying it was among those that “crossed the line” in allowing ads that promote illegal activity such as prostitution.
Village Voice Media owns St. Louis alternative newspaper Riverfront Times.
Village Voice newspapers this year started publishing a series of articles questioning the statistics used by activists opposing sex trafficking of minors.
The case is M.A., a minor, by and through her natural mother and next friend, P.K.,
v. Village Voice Media Holdings and Backpage.com, 4:10CV1740.
Aug 17, 2011 1:37 pm
Lawsuit