Ultimate Software Group Inc. headquarters in Weston. Photo: Bloomberg

A federal appellate court ruled the mother of a drug addict who died after arranging to purchase heroin on the Experience Project website could not hold the site’s corporate owner liable for her son’s death.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday held the Weston-based Ultimate Software Group Inc. was immune from the lawsuit under the Communications Decency Act. The company was behind the website allowing users to discuss experiences anonymously over the internet and shut down the Experience Project site in April 2016, citing a lack of resources to respond to government information requests.

“While the circumstances and facts of this case are no doubt tragic, we find that Ultimate Software is immune from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,” the court said.

The opinion by Circuit Judge Dorothy Nelson comes as U.S. politicians from both ends of the political spectrum push to make it easier to hold web platforms liable for everything from political viewpoint discrimination to hate speech and gun violence.

In the underlying case, Kristanalea Dyroff was attempting to hold the publicly traded company liable for the death of her son. Wesley Greer died after taking fentanyl-laced drugs purchased from a dealer he connected with after posting “where can i score heroin in jacksonville, fl” in a heroin-related group on the Experience Project.

Dyroff’s lawyers at Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz and Carney Bates & Pulliam claimed U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler erred by dismissing the case in 2017. They argued the site’s recommendation and notification functions were “specifically designed to make subjective, editorial decisions about users based on their posts.” They also claimed Beeler erred by finding claims that Ultimate Software colluded with drug dealers on the site were implausible and had no duty of care for Greer as a site user.

Nelson noted Ultimate Software “did not create content on Experience Project, in whole or in part.”

“Ultimate Software, as the operator of Experience Project, is immune from liability under the CDA because its functions, including recommendations and notifications, were content-neutral tools used to facilitate communications,” the judge concluded.

The recommendation and notification functions of the site, the court held, didn’t materially contribute to the unlawful nature of the content produced by site users. The court also found the site’s functions did not make Greer worse off since recommendations and notifications were employed regardless of the groups an individual accessed.

“No website could function if a duty of care was created when a website facilitates communication, in a content-neutral fashion, of its users’ content,” Nelson wrote.

David Slade of Carney Bates, who represented Dyroff at oral argument, had no comment by deadline. Neither did Jeffry Miller of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, who represented Ultimate Software.