The scholar, Katherine Griffins, sued Marianne Luban in Alabama. Luban, who is a resident of Minnesota, refused to attend court sessions, claiming that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case. She claimed that the suit should have been filed in her home state, as most libel cases for printed material are prosecuted where the statement was produced.
Griffins asked Minnesota courts to enforce the decision. Two decisions upheld the Alabama verdict. However the Minnesota Supreme Court overruled the previous rulings unanimously.
The decision said: “The fact that messages posted to the newsgroup could have been read in Alabama, just as they could have been read anywhere in the world, cannot suffice to establish Alabama as the focal point of the defendant’s conduct.”
Griffin’s lawyer said that the court simply misread the law, and that his client will appeal to the US Supreme Court.