Can I be held liable for injuries allegedly caused by information I published?

Generally, no. However, courts have held that a publisher can be held liable for printing information that on its face would alert a reasonably prudent publisher that the information is likely to harm the public. In the leading media negligence case, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta (11th Cir.) ruled that Soldier of Fortune Magazine could be held liable in a wrongful death action. In that case, the magazine published an advertisement from a man offering his services as a "gun for hire." A magazine subscriber read the ad and hired the "hitman" to kill the victim, the decedents of whom sued the magazine. The court noted that the publisher should have known that a "gun for hire" ad -- which described its subject as a "professional mercenary" with "other special skills" involving the use of a gun who was willing to consider "all jobs" -- presented a danger to the general public.

Moreover, a widow successfully sued a California radio station for negligence where two teenaged drivers in separate vehicles killed the woman's husband while participating in a contest broadcast by the station. The broadcast urged listeners to locate and "get" a station disc jockey who was driving to various locations in the Los Angeles area. Thus, the station actively and repeatedly encouraged its listeners to act in an inherently dangerous manner by driving recklessly, the court held.

The Atlanta court that decided the Soldier of Fortune case noted that a publisher could be held liable in these situations only if the unreasonable risk was obvious without conducting any further investigation. As such, a close and careful reading of everything you post on your site, including advertisements, is likely to protect you from liability for negligence.