Negligence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Richard Webber v. Armslist, LLC

Case No.: 21-3198

Officials: Flaum, Brennan, and Scudder, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Negligence

In these cases, the question is raised as to whether a website that hosts advertisements for the sale and purchase of firearms can be held liable under Wisconsin law for the deaths of two shooting victims. Plaintiffs Erin Bauer and Richard Webber are the legal representatives and family members of two individuals killed using guns that had been listed on armslist.com, an online firearms marketplace. Bauer and Webber each sued Armslist LLC and its member manager, Jonathan Gibbon, in separate diversity actions, alleging negligence and other Wisconsin state law claims. The plaintiffs assert that the defendants designed the website to encourage and assist individuals in circumventing federal and state law regulating firearms. The defendants argue that the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because publishing third-party offers to sell firearms does not establish tort or other liability under Wisconsin law.

The Seventh Circuit reversed the decision that personal jurisdiction exists over Gibbon. Further, the court wrote that because Plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, it affirmed the dismissal in each case. The court explained that Plaintiffs have not alleged an act or omission occurring within the state or solicitation or service activities outside of the state by Gibbon that would bring him within the grasp of Wisconsin’s long-arm statute. Moreover, the court wrote that Plaintiffs have failed to plausibly plead that the deaths would not have occurred but for Armslist LLC’s failure to permit users to flag illegal conduct.

Reversed and affirmed.

Decided 06/12/23

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