## Facts

- George Firth, a DEC law-enforcement director responsible for weapons acquisition, was criticized in an Inspector General report titled “The Best Bang for Their Buck.”
- On December 16, 1996, the Inspector General issued the report, and a state agency posted an executive summary online with links enabling users to view or download the full report.
- A state programmer stated the report text was not modified after the initial posting.
- Later, the State added a different Inspector General report (concerning DMV) to the same website.
- On March 18, 1998, more than one year after the initial posting, Firth filed a defamation claim against the State based on the report’s content.

## Issues

1. Whether allegedly defamatory material posted on a website is subject to the single-publication rule, so the limitations period runs from the first posting rather than from each access (“hit”) or download.
2. Whether adding unrelated content to the same website constitutes a republication of the original allegedly defamatory report that restarts the one-year defamation limitations period.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal as time-barred under CPLR 215(3).
- The court held the single-publication rule applies to Internet postings; the defamation claim accrues on the date the material is first made publicly available online.
- The court rejected treating each website access or download as a new publication that would restart the limitations period.
- The later posting of an unrelated DMV report on the same site was not a republication of the earlier report because the earlier report’s text was not materially altered or reissued to a new audience.

## Legal Principles

- Under New York’s single-publication rule, mass-distributed defamatory content gives rise to one cause of action accruing at first publication, and the statute of limitations runs from that date.
- For Internet publications, continued online availability and repeated access do not constitute new publications for limitations purposes.
- Republication requires a separate aggregate publication, typically involving a material alteration, reissue, or redirection to a new audience; unrelated website updates do not qualify.
- Defamation claims are subject to a one-year statute of limitations under CPLR 215(3).

## Conclusion

Because the allegedly defamatory report was first posted online on December 16, 1996, and the claim was filed on March 18, 1998, the action was untimely; no republication occurred to restart the limitations period.


Firth v. State, 775 N.E.2d 463 (N.Y. 2002)