Omegle.com Seeks Summary Judgment in Sex Trafficking Lawsuit

Omegle.com LLC is seeking a pre-trial win in a case alleging the anonymous video-chatting website allowed a sex predator in Canada to abuse a minor he met on the platform.

The company filed a motion for summary judgment in the US District Court for the District of Oregon on Thursday arguing both that it didn’t knowingly assist Scott Fordyce in committing the abuse and that parts of the lawsuit are barred by a statute of limitations.

The lawsuit filed in 2021 claimed Omegle is a defectively designed product that failed to restrict access to children or ban known predatory users. The suit also claimed Omegle engaged in sex trafficking by financially benefiting from predators who frequent the website to find children for sexual exploitation.

Omegle argued in its filing that Michigan product liability law should apply in this case because the plaintiff was a resident of the state. Under Michigan law, product liability claims have a three-year statute of limitations and the plaintiff failed to bring a timely suit, Omegle said.

The company argued that the sex trafficking claims shouldn’t apply because the plaintiff lacked evidence that Omegle had directly participated in a commercial sex trafficking venture.

Omegle’s motion comes after it failed to quickly defeat the lawsuit under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that provides broad immunity to online platforms over lawsuits based on content created by users.

Plaintiffs have been advancing the novel product liability argument in an effort to skirt the legal shield. They argue the suit is treating the platform as a defectively designed product and not as a publisher.

C. A. Goldberg PLLC and Vogt & Long PC represent the plaintiffs. Snell & Wilmer LLP represents Omegle.

The case is AM v. Omegle.com LLC, D. Or., No. 3:21-cv-01674, 7/20/23.