## Facts

- Globe Communications Corp. published a weekly tabloid, *Globe*, with final publication decisions made in Florida.
- R.C.S. Rizzoli Periodici, S.p.A., an Italian publisher, distributed its magazines worldwide, including in Florida.
- Rizzoli published an Italian-language article about the singer Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) asserting facts about his conversion to Islam and ties to Ayatollah Khomeini.
- A Globe reporter obtained the issue containing Rizzoli’s article, and Globe published a story repeating its substance and attributing the information to European reporters.
- Many factual assertions in the original article (and thus in Globe’s story) were false.
- Yusuf Islam sued Globe in the United States for defamation and false light; Globe later settled after concluding the story contained falsehoods.
- Globe then sued Rizzoli seeking recovery of the settlement payment, attorneys’ fees, and punitive damages, pleading intentional misrepresentation, contribution, and equitable subrogation.
- Rizzoli moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6); the parties disputed whether Florida, New York, or Italian law governed.

## Issues

1. Which substantive law governs Globe’s tort claims: Florida, New York, or Italy.
2. Whether applying Florida law to an Italian publisher with distributed publications in Florida would be fundamentally unfair or violate due process.
3. Whether the complaint states claims for intentional misrepresentation, contribution, and equitable subrogation under the governing law.

## Decision

- Florida law governed under the forum’s choice-of-law rules because Florida had the most significant relationship to the alleged torts and injury.
- Applying Florida law to Rizzoli did not violate due process because Rizzoli knowingly circulated publications in Florida and could foresee effects there.
- The complaint plausibly alleged intentional misrepresentation because Florida permits liability where the defendant had reason to expect a third party would rely on the false statement.
- The complaint plausibly alleged contribution because Globe claimed a shared responsibility for the same injury and that its settlement discharged a common liability.
- The complaint plausibly alleged equitable subrogation because Globe alleged it paid to settle a bona fide claim that also implicated Rizzoli’s potential liability, and the payment was not purely voluntary.
- The motion to dismiss was denied.

## Legal Principles

- In multistate tort disputes, the governing law is chosen by applying the forum’s conflicts rules and selecting the jurisdiction with the most significant relationship to the conduct and injury.
- Due process permits application of a state’s law to an out-of-state defendant when the defendant has deliberate contacts with the state and could reasonably foresee being subject to its law.
- Under Florida law, intentional misrepresentation may extend to foreseeable, indirect reliance by third parties when the defendant had reason to expect the statement would be relied upon.
- Florida contribution permits a settling tortfeasor to seek contribution from another party alleged to share responsibility for the same injury, subject to proof of common liability and allocation of fault.
- Florida equitable subrogation may be available when a party pays to satisfy or reduce another’s potential liability on a bona fide claim and the payment is not that of a mere volunteer.

## Conclusion

The court held that Florida law applied and that Globe adequately pleaded fraud, contribution, and equitable subrogation against the original publisher of false statements that Globe republished, allowing the case to proceed past the pleading stage.


Globe Commc’ns Corp. v. R.C.S. Rizzoli Periodici, S.p.A., 729 F. Supp. 973 (S.D.N.Y. 1990)