James v. Meow Media, Inc.
| Decision Date | 06 April 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV.A. 5:99CV-96-J.,CIV.A. 5:99CV-96-J. |
| Citation | 90 F.Supp.2d 798 |
| Parties | Joe JAMES and Judy James, Co-Administrators of the Estate of Jessica James and Thomas Wayne Steger and Sabrina Collins Steger, Co-Administrators of the Estate of Kayce Steger and Gwen Hadley, Administratrix of the Estate of Nicole Marie Hadley, Plaintiffs v. MEOW MEDIA, INC., d/b/a www.persiankitty.com, Network Authentication Systems, Inc., d/b/a www.adultkey.com, www.porntech.com, Midway Home Entertainment, Apogee Software, Ltd., ID Software, Inc., Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., GT Interactive Software Corp., Interplay Productions, Inc., Nintendo of America, Sega of America, Inc., Virgin Interactive Media, Activision, Inc., Capcom Entertainment, Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment d/b/a Sony Interactive Studios America, Lasersoft, Inc., Williams Entertainment, Inc., Time Warner, Inc., Polygram Film Entertainment Distribution, Inc., Island Pictures, Palm Pictures and New Line Cinema, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky |
John B. Thompson, Coral Gables, FL, David A. Strauss, Chicago, IL, Michael A. Breen, Mike Breen Attorneys at Law, P.S.C., Bowling Green, KY, for Joe James, Judy James, Thomas Wayne Steger, Sabrina Collins Steger, Gwen Hadley.
Mark P. Bryant, Paducah, KY, for Meow Media.
Steven C. Jackson, Jackson & Jaggers, Paducah, KY, Joel N. Kreizman, Evans, Osborne & Kreizman, Ocean, NJ, for Network Authentication Systems, Inc.
David L. Kelly, Denton & Keuler, Paducah, KY, Gerold O. Sweeney, Jr., John T. Williams, Lord, Bissell & Brook, Chicago, IL, for Midway Entertainment.
Richard H.C. Clay, Woodward, Hobson & Fulton, Louisville, KY, John David Cole, Cole, Moore & Baker, Bowling Green, KY D. Wade Cloud, Jr., James T. Drakeley, Hiersche, Martens, Hayward, Drakeley & Urbach, P.C., Dallas, TX, Paul E. Salamanca, Lexington, KY, for ID Software, Inc.
Stephen E. Smith, Jr., McMurry & Livingston, Paducah, KY, Bruce J. Ennis, Jr., Deanne E. Maynard, Paul M. Smith, Elizabeth A. Cavanagh, David C. Belt, Jenner & Block, Washington, DC, for Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., GT Interactive Software Corp., Interplay Productions, Inc., Nintendo of America, Sega of America, Inc., Virgin Interactive Media, Activision, Inc., Capcom Entertainment, Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment.
V. Thomas Fryman, Jr., Mark S. Riddle, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, Louisville, KY, Kevin T. Baine, Nicole K. Seligman, Jane E. Genster, Williams & Connolly, Washington, DC, for Time Warner, Inc., New Line Cinema.
Mary Elizabeth McGarry, Barry R. Ostrager, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, New York City, Ronald G. Sheffer, Sheffer, Hutchinson & Kinney, Louisville, Ky, For Polygram Film Entertainment Distribution, Inc.
This matter is before the Court for ruling on Defendants' Motions to Dismiss [dkt.# 10, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, & 53]. The Motions have been fully briefed and are now ripe for review. For the reasons set forth herein, the Motions to Dismiss will be granted and this case will be dismissed as to all Defendants.
Plaintiffs brought this action alleging negligence, strict liability, and RICO violations against various groups of Defendants based on the underlying theory that the Defendants' actions or lack thereof in creating and distributing a movie, numerous video games, and various internet materials caused their daughters' deaths and subsequent loss of earning capacity. As common to all counts, the following facts are set forth in the complaint:
On the morning of December 1, 1997, Michael Carneal, then fourteen years of age, took six guns, including a pistol, to the Heath High School in McCracken County, Kentucky. Carneal waited for a daily voluntary student prayer session to end. He then shot Jessica James, Kayce Steger, and Nicole Hadley, all three of whom were members of the prayer group, to death. He wounded five others.... In the aftermath of the massacre the police seized Michael Carneal's computer. Carneal was an avid computer user who logged onto the Internet to consume material that was obscene, obscene for minors, pornographic, sexually violent, and/or violent in content. Law enforcement officials also learned that Carneal was a consumer of violent computer and video games ... [and] that Carneal was a consumer of movies containing obscenity, obscenity for minors, pornography, sexual violence, and/or violence. One such movie that Carneal consumed was The Basketball Diaries. In this movie a student ... graphically massacres his classmates with a shotgun.... Dr. Diane Schetky ...an adolescent psychiatrist ... concluded that Carneal was profoundly influenced by his exposure to the above violent/pornographic media and that: `[t]he media's depiction of violence as a means of resolving conflict and a national culture which tends to glorify violence further condones his thinking.' Michael Carneal was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty-five years in jail without possibility of parole.
Based on the foregoing, Plaintiffs, the parents of the deceased children, filed the instant complaint against three distinct groups of Defendants.
In count one of the complaint, Plaintiffs sue the makers and distributors of a movie titled The Basketball Diaries.1 Plaintiffs describe the movie as being "a nihilistic glamorization of irresponsible sex, senseless and gratuitous violence, hatred of religion, disregard of authority, castigation of the family, drug use, and other self-destructive behaviors." According to Plaintiffs, the Diaries Defendants
In count two of the complaint, Plaintiffs sue the creators and distributors of various video games,2 alleging that the Video Games Defendants "manufactured and/or supplied to Michael Carneal violent video games which made the violence pleasurable and attractive, and disconnected the violence from the natural consequences thereof, thereby causing Michael Carneal to act out the violence ... [and] trained Carneal how to point and shoot a gun in a fashion making him an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity."
In count three of the complaint, Plaintiffs sue various owners of internet websites.3 According to Plaintiffs, the Internet Defendants
In addition, Plaintiffs allege in count four that the Internet Defendants "engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity by distributing certain obscene matter by means of the Internet through interstate commerce to Michael Carneal, a minor in violation of state and federal obscenity and obscenity to minor statutes."
After making the foregoing specific allegations as to each group of Defendants, Plaintiffs bring some twenty-three claims sounding in negligence and strict products liability in counts one through three common to all Defendants. Among these various claims are the allegations: that the Defendants knew or should have known that copycat violence would result from the use of their products and materials; that Defendants knew or should have known that their products and materials created an unreasonable risk of harm because minors would be influenced by the effect of their products and materials and then would cause harm; that Defendants knew or should have known that their products and materials were in an unreasonably defective condition and likely to be dangerous for the use for which they were supplied; and that Defendants failed to exercise reasonable care to inform consumers of the dangerous condition of their products and materials or of the facts which made their products and materials likely to be dangerous.
Defendants filed various motions to dismiss these claims pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure arguing that Plaintiffs' allegations fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. When evaluating a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the Court liberally construes a plaintiff's claim and will grant the motion to dismiss only if "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Windsor v. The Tennessean, 719 F.2d 155, 158 (6th Cir.1983)(citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). In reviewing a plaintiff's claim, Rule 12(b)(6) requires the court to accept all factual allegations as true because the purpose of the motion "is to allow a defendant to test whether, as a matter of law, the plaintiff is entitled to legal relief even if everything alleged in the complaint is true." Mayer v. Mylod, 988 F.2d 635, 638 (6th Cir.1993). However, Lewis v. ACB Business Serv., Inc., 135 F.3d 389 (6th Cir.1998) (citations omitted).
Therefore, as the purpose of the motion to dismiss is to challenge the...
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