Jane Doe No. 14 v. Internet Brands, Inc.

Model Mayhem is a networking website, found at modelmayhem.com, for people in the modeling industry. Plaintiff Jane Doe, an aspiring model who posted information about herself on the website, alleges that two rapists used the website to lure her to a fake audition, where they drugged her, raped her, and recorded her for a pornographic video. She also alleges that Defendant Internet Brands, the company that owns the website, knew about the rapists but did not warn her or the website’s other users. She filed an action against Internet Brands alleging liability for negligence under California law based on that failure to warn.

The district court dismissed the action on the ground that her claim was barred by the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”), 47 U.S.C. § 230 (c) (2012). We conclude that the CDA does not bar the claim. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. Background

At the motion to dismiss stage, we assume factual allegations stated in the Complaint filed by Plaintiff to be true. Sprewell v. Golden State Warriors, 266 F.3d 979, 988 (9th Cir.2001). Plaintiff alleges that Internet Brands owns and operates the website modelmayhem.com, which it purchased in…