KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed lawsuits brought against two adult websites in Kansas for alleged violations of the state’s age verification law.
As XBIZ reported last year, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), a conservative anti-pornography organization, brought lawsuits against four adult sites on behalf of a 14-year-old Kansas resident and her mother. Two of the suits targeted Titan Websites, which operates HentaiCity.com, and ICF Technology, which operates Jerkmate.com. The suits alleged that the teen accessed content on the sites without her age being verified.
Judge Holly Teeter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas dismissed both suits, citing lack of jurisdiction.
In the case against Titan Websites, Teeter ruled that the plaintiff failed to show that HentaiCity.com "purposefully directed its activities at Kansas."
"The contacts between Defendant and the forum were not due to discriminating, intentional conduct that targeted Kansas," Teeter wrote. "Rather, they were the random, and fortuitous contacts inherent in the operation of an indiscriminate and universally accessible website ... This is insufficient to support the exercise of specific personal jurisdiction."
In a statement, the Free Speech Coalition hailed the decision as a positive development.
“As the first age verification case filed by a private plaintiff to reach final resolution, the ruling suggests that private plaintiffs can lack personal jurisdiction to sue out-of-state website operators under the Kansas statute,” the FSC statement reads.
FSC Executive Director of Free Speech Coalition said that the ruling provides “critical guidance” for platforms dealing with AV laws in Kansas and other states.
“While not precedent-setting, nor necessarily applicable in every case, the District Court’s ruling is an important victory against state laws enforced by private rights of action,” said Boden. “In the meantime, the threat of litigation is real, and we encourage our members to continue to comply with all applicable laws.”
The plaintiffs can still appeal the rulings.
The other two NCOSE-backed cases remain pending. In the case targeting Multi Media LLC, which operates Chaturbate.com, the judge granted the defendant’s motion to compel arbitration and stayed the case pending the arbitration’s outcome. In the case targeting Techpump Solutions, which operates Superporn.com, the judge has yet to rule on a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
