Process - Foreign Publishing Corporation Subject To Suit in Connecticut For Libel; In Personam Jurisdiction Over News Media Governed By First Amendment Considerations of Parties' Interests and Not By That Amendment's Application to "Minimum Contacts" Requirement of Due Process Clause. Buckley v. New York Post Corp. (2d Cir. 1967)

Authors

Michael Randall Rogers

Library of Congress Authority File

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79122466

Document Type

Recent Cases

Abstract

Alleging that the New York Post had published two newspaper editorials maliciously and with reckless disregard of the truth, the outspoken devotee of Conservatism, William F. Buckley, Jr., brought action for libel in the superior court of Connectict - his state of domicile. Though the defendant, a Delaware corporation with its principle place of business location in New York City, was in no way physically situate in the forum state, substituted service of process was effected by mail in accordance with the Connecticut "long-arm" statute. Answers to interrogatories later revealed that, on the days the editorials had appeared, 2,021 copies of the Post's daily edition and 2,026 copies of its weekend edition had been distributed by various means to persons in Connecticut. Upon removal of the case the the federal district court, the Post entered a motion for dismissal on the ground that Connecticut jurisdiction was lacking, subdivisions (3) and (4) of the "long-arm" statute notwithstanding. The district court adjudged subdivision (3) applicable, since it prescribes jurisdiction over a foreign corporation in an action arising from the use or consumption of its goods within the state. However, dismissal was granted on the theory that the subdivision's application to the defendant would violate rights secured by the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. On appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, held: reversed: Were the case solely dependent upon subdivision (3), want of jurisdiction would indeed necessitate dismissal; subdivision (4), on the other hand, in permitting jurisdiction over a foreign corporation as a result of "tortious conduct" within Connecticut, could validly be applied without constitutional objection.

Recommended Citation

Michael R. Rogers, Process - Foreign Publishing Corporation Subject To Suit in Connecticut For Libel; In Personam Jurisdiction Over News Media Governed By First Amendment Considerations of Parties' Interests and Not By That Amendment's Application to "Minimum Contacts" Requirement of Due Process Clause. Buckley v. New York Post Corp. (2d Cir. 1967), 4 San Diego L. Rev. 347 (1967).
Available at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol4/iss2/9