Hueston Hennigan successfully defended Amazon and Twitch from lawsuits alleging they were liable for the fatal shooting spree at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. In a first-of-its-kind decision in New York state, the appellate court overturned the trial court and ruled that the complaints against Amazon and Twitch and the other social media companies should be dismissed.
In May 2022, ten Black people were killed and three others were wounded in a horrific hate crime, when a man opened fire in the market in a predominantly Black neighborhood. The shooter livestreamed the incident on Twitch. The plaintiffs—victims of the shooting and their family members—contend the shooter was radicalized by extremist and racist content on social media and that his ability to livestream on Twitch motivated him to commit the crimes. The plaintiffs’ claims included wrongful death, product liability, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress.
Hueston Hennigan argued, on behalf of Twitch and Amazon, that Twitch cannot be liable for these claims under the First Amendment, Section 230, and traditional state law principles. The firm further argued that even if other social media companies could be liable, Twitch cannot because the shooter was not radicalized on Twitch. After multiple days of hearings, the trial court denied Hueston Hennigan’s motion to dismiss, concluding its arguments could be made after discovery.
On appeal—which was argued by Moez Kaba—the appellate court agreed with Twitch and the other social media companies, ruling that Section 230 indeed affords immunity to the social media defendants, the First Amendment protects our conduct, and noted further that Twitch could not be liable for addiction.
In addition to Mr. Kaba, the team included Allison Libeu, Brittani Jackson, Michael Todisco, Adam Minchew, Arianna Demas, Warren Crandall and Collin Yeung.
The win has been widely reported in publications including Reuters, Law360 and Law.com.