Witkoff

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs, Steven and Lauren Witkoff, appeal from a judgment of dismissal of their first amended complaint following an order sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend. Plaintiffs sued defendant, Topix, LLC, for public nuisance under Civil Code sections 3479 and 3480 and the wrongful death of their son. Defendant maintains a Web site, Topix.com, that permits users to communicate regarding various topics. Defendant allegedly created a forum on its website whose subject matter is Oxycodone. Plaintiff’s son, Andrew Witkoff,1 was allegedly in contact with a third-party user of defendant’s Web site, the codefendant, Andrew Park, for the purpose of illegally purchasing Oxycodone. Plaintiff’s son subsequently overdosed on Oxycodone and died. Plaintiffs contend defendant by creating a forum for Oxycodone is liable for public nuisance and their son’s wrongful death. Defendant demurred to the first amended complaint, contending it is immune from liability under the federal Communications Decency Act, title 47 United States Code section 230(c)(1).2 Among other things, the Communications Decency Act protects interactive computer service providers from being considered as…