List owner named in law suit (fwd)

[Damien Lucifer <root@HellSpawn>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 1996 16:52:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Clay Irving <clay@panix.com>
Subject: List owner named in law suit

I can't believe this one!

Peter Laws, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas, maintains
an
electronic mailing list called "SCAN-L". The list is provided for
radio
scanning enthusiasts. There are a few hundred subscribers to the list.
Recently, in a thread about scanning publications, an employee of
publication
"A" apparently wrote something to offend someone at publication "B".
Lo and
behold, next thing you know, Peter is named in a lawsuit because he is
the
maintainer of the list.

Something seems very, very wrong with this. I've never heard of
anything 
like this before. Can a Email list maintainer be held liable for
something
someone else writes?

Peter *just* graduated, and he needs all the help he can get. Thanks,
in
advance.

-- 
Clay Irving N2VKG 
clay@panix.com
http://www.panix.com/~clay/