BY OVERNIGHT DELIVERY
January 8, 2003
Clerk
United States Court of Appeals
Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse
100 E. Fifth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-3988
Re: Taubman v. Mishkoff, Nos. 01-2648, 01-2725
Dear Clerk:
Pursuant to Rule 28(j) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, I am writing to call the
Court's attention to rulings from other appellate courts in the past month pertaining to the
personal jurisdiction issue. Please circulate copies of the letter to Circuit Judges Boggs and Clay
and Senior Circuit Judge Suhrheinrich, who heard oral argument in this case on October 16, 2002.
In Young v. New Haven Advocate, 2002 WL 31780988 (4th Cir. Dec. 13, 2002), the Fourth
Circuit refused to allow a Virginia prison warden to sue in Virginia over articles that Connecticut
newspapers posted on the Internet about the incarceration of Connecticut prisoners in a Virginia
prison; the Court relied in part on the absence of evidence that the newspapers had targeted readers
in Virginia. In Revell v. Lidov, 2002 WL 31890992 (5th Cir. Dec. 31, 2002), the Fifth Circuit
refused to allow an FBI official residing in Texas to bring suit there against a professor who
posted an article on the web site of the Columbia Journalism Review that discussed the activities of
the plaintiff; that court relied in part on the fact that Texas was not the focal point of the
articles. Revell followed this Court's decision in Reynolds v. Int'l Amateur Athletic
Foundn, 23 F.3d 1110 (6th Cir. 1994).
In Pavlovich v. Superior Court of Santa Clara, 127 Cal.Rptr.2d 329 (Cal. 2002), the court
refused to allow a Texan to be sued in California for posting on his web site certain software that
allegedly violated the copyright laws, absent evidence that he had targeted California by his
actions.
All of these decisions included a limited construction of Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783
(1984), a case on which appellee relies. And, because this case involves a web site about a Texas
shopping mall, even if it is owned by a company based in Michigan, the decisions support our
argument that a court in Michigan lacks jurisdiction over Mishkoff's person.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Alan Levy
cc: Douglas Sprinkle, Esquire
Ann Beeson, Esquire
