<i>U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM</i> U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

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

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday held that The Ultimate Software Group Inc., the company behind the website which allowed users to discuss experiences anonymously over the internet, fell within the broad liability immunity afforded to interactive computer services for user-generated content under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Ultimate Software 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,” wrote Ninth Circuit Judge Dorothy Nelson.

The ruling comes as politicians from both ends of the political spectrum in the U.S. are calling to reform Section 230 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 Ultimate Software liable for the death of her son Wesley Greer. 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 that U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler erred by dismissing the case in 2017. They argued that 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 in finding the company had no duty of care for Greer as a site user.

On Tuesday, Nelson wrote that Ultimate Software “did not create content on Experience Project, in whole or in part.”

“Accordingly, 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 held that 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 before the Ninth Circuit, didn’t immediately respond to messages Tuesday. Neither did Jeffry Miller of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, who represented Ultimate Software.