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Phan v. Pham
Filed February 25, 2010, Fourth District, Div. Three
Cite as G041666


Recipient who Forwarded Defamatory E-mail not Liable

The president of the veterans group from the Navy and Merchant Marine of the Republic of Vietnam sent an e-mail to his fellow veterans. The e-mail accused Hung Tan Phan (Phan) of abusive behavior during the last days of the Vietnam War.

One of the recipients of the e-mail was Lang Van Pham (Pham). Pham forwarded the e-mail to another veteran but included therein his own introductory paragraph.

Consequently, Phan filed a defamation case against Pham. Pham, on the other hand, invoked the immunity under section 230(c)(1) as reiterated in the case of Barrett v. Rosenthal (2006) 40 Cal.4th 33.

The trial court dismissed the case as a result of a non-suit motion filed by Pham.

Phan timely appealed the judgment.

The California Court of Appeal Fourth Appellate District, in affirming the judgment of the trial court, ruled that a recipient of an e-mail who forwarded the allegedly defamatory content of that e-mail along with his own message could not be held liable for defamation.

This was because e-mail recipient’s message made no material contribution to the alleged defamation in the e-mail message. Only the original sender who wrote the e-mail may be held liable for defamation.

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