Judge Rules Grindr Not Liable for Man’s Sexual Encounter with a Minor

CAMDEN – Chief U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Simandle dismissed a lawsuit filed by William Saponaro Jr., 52, of Cape May, who sued Grindr, a social networking app, last year, according to a report on NJ.com.
Saponaro filed the lawsuit after he was arrested in Cape May County June 28, 2012 for allegedly having sex with a minor he met through the app. He was charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, along with Mark LeMunyon, 24, also of Cape May. Charges are still pending.
According to the report, Saponaro claims that a week before his arrest, a 13-year-old used GrindrX to solicit a sexual encounter with LeMunyon, who subscribes to the service.
“Upon receiving the minor’s solicitation, LeMunyon contacted plaintiff and arranged a sexual encounter between himself, the minor and plaintiff,” the decision notes.
The meeting took place at Saponaro’s home in Cape May some time during the following week, the decision said.
In the lawsuit, Saponaro claimed Grindr was negligent for allowing a minor to hold himself out as an adult of consenting age on its site and that he was relying on Grindr’s age restrictions of a minimum of 18 or 21 in certain states.
Grindr argued that it was immune from liability under the Communications Decency Act.
Simandle said the act distinguishes between publishers of information and service providers like Grindr.
According to NJ.com, the act’s so-called Good Samaritan clause says that “no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider,” the decision noted.
Simandle also dismissed Saponaro’s claims for negligent and emotional infliction of emotional distress.
Saponaro’s attorney, Michael Farrell, told NJ.com his client has not yet decided whether he intends to appeal.
Grindr declined to comment to NJ.com.