## Facts

- Kathy Keeton, a New York resident and magazine publisher, alleged that Hustler Magazine, Inc. and Larry C. Flynt published defamatory statements about her in several Hustler issues from 1975–1976.
- Keeton previously sued in Ohio in 1977 based on a May 1976 issue; the libel and invasion of privacy claims were dismissed as time-barred under Ohio’s statute of limitations.
- In 1980, Keeton filed a diversity libel action in federal court in New Hampshire based on five issues published between September 1975 and July 1976.
- Keeton selected New Hampshire because it had a six-year statute of limitations for libel, and the limitations periods elsewhere had expired by the time she sued.
- After personal jurisdiction litigation, the case proceeded to trial and a jury awarded Keeton $2 million.
- On appeal, the federal appellate court certified to the New Hampshire Supreme Court questions concerning the interstate single publication rule and the reach of New Hampshire’s statute of limitations in a multistate libel case where both sides were nonresidents and in-state circulation was about 1% or less.

## Issues

1. Whether New Hampshire follows an interstate single publication rule in libel cases.
2. If New Hampshire follows that rule, whether New Hampshire applies its six-year libel statute of limitations to permit recovery for nationwide distribution even when other states’ limitations periods would bar recovery, the parties are nonresidents, and New Hampshire distribution is a small fraction of total circulation.

## Decision

- The court held that New Hampshire follows the single publication rule for mass communications, as stated in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 577A.
- The court held that, under the single publication rule and on these facts, New Hampshire would apply its six-year statute of limitations to the plaintiff’s entire multistate libel claim, allowing damages for nationwide distribution despite time bars in other states.
- The court answered the certified questions in a manner that permitted the action to proceed as a single, nationwide claim governed by New Hampshire’s limitations period.

## Legal Principles

- Under the interstate single publication rule, a single edition of a mass-circulation publication gives rise to one cause of action for defamation, avoiding multiple suits based on individual distributions.
- When a multistate libel claim is treated as one unified cause of action under the single publication rule, the forum’s statute of limitations applies to that unified claim rather than being fragmented by state-by-state limitation periods.
- A nonresident plaintiff may invoke the forum’s longer statute of limitations in a proper forum; seeking a favorable limitations period is not, by itself, a bar to suit.
- Regular distribution within the forum state can support applying forum law to the single-publication claim, even when in-state circulation is a small percentage of total nationwide circulation.

## Conclusion

The New Hampshire Supreme Court adopted the Restatement’s interstate single publication rule and concluded that New Hampshire’s six-year libel statute of limitations governs the entire unified multistate publication claim, permitting recovery for nationwide circulation even though other states’ limitations periods had expired.


Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 549 A.2d 1187 (N.H. 1988)