Decision of Note: Texas Court Lacks Jurisdiction over 'Daily Show' Host

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas decided that it lacked personal jurisdiction over comedian Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, in a suit filed over a segment in which a Texas resident appeared. Busch v. Viacom International Inc., 3:06-CV-0493-L. The Daily Show broadcast a parody of a dietary drink that TV evangelist Pat Robertson promoted. The Daily Show segment included a clip from Robertson's show The 700 Club in which plaintiff Phillip Busch, a user of the dietary drink, shook Robertson's hand. Busch filed claiming defamation and misappropriation of image in the Daily Show piece.

The district court first found no specific jurisdiction over Stewart, explaining that his show's segment 'was about Robertson, not Plaintiff. The six-second clip at issue is a replay of an episode of The 700 Club where Plaintiff voluntarily appeared on the set in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The piece contains no reference to Texas or any activities by Plaintiff in Texas. The piece was not directed at viewers of The Daily Show in Texas, but was broadcast nationwide ' Moreover, Stewart did not visit Texas, call Texas or conduct any interviews or research in Texas related to the piece, nor was he involved in selecting or editing the challenged clip ' At the time the challenged broadcast was aired, Stewart had never heard of Plaintiff and did not know he lived in Texas.'

As for general jurisdiction, which is based on continuous, systematic, and substantial contacts with the forum state, the district court noted that Stewart 'has never lived in Texas, has never owned any real property in Texas, has never maintained an office in Texas, has never had any employees or agents in Texas, has never had any professional licenses, bank accounts or telephone listings in Texas and has only visited Texas twice ' once to perform a show in Lubbock in the mid-1990s and once to perform a show in Austin in 1998 or 1999.'

The district court then dismissed Busch's remaining claims as to Viacom International. On the defamation claim, the court emphasized: '[B]ecause Plaintiff's image appears in a 'fake endorsement' ' of Robertson's diet shake on The Daily Show, a satiric program, no reasonable viewer would have believed that the challenged clip contained assertions of fact about Plaintiff.' The misappropriation claim was then dismissed on the ground that 'Plaintiff's image was in the public domain after he voluntarily appeared on The 700 Club in July 2005 to publicly discuss his use of Pat's Diet Shake ' Moreover, as discussed above with regard to the dismissal of Plaintiff's defamation claim, the First Amendment protects parody.'

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas decided that it lacked personal jurisdiction over comedian Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, in a suit filed over a segment in which a Texas resident appeared. Busch v. Viacom International Inc., 3:06-CV-0493-L. The Daily Show broadcast a parody of a dietary drink that TV evangelist Pat Robertson promoted. The Daily Show segment included a clip from Robertson's show The 700 Club in which plaintiff Phillip Busch, a user of the dietary drink, shook Robertson's hand. Busch filed claiming defamation and misappropriation of image in the Daily Show piece.

The district court first found no specific jurisdiction over Stewart, explaining that his show's segment 'was about Robertson, not Plaintiff. The six-second clip at issue is a replay of an episode of The 700 Club where Plaintiff voluntarily appeared on the set in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The piece contains no reference to Texas or any activities by Plaintiff in Texas. The piece was not directed at viewers of The Daily Show in Texas, but was broadcast nationwide ' Moreover, Stewart did not visit Texas, call Texas or conduct any interviews or research in Texas related to the piece, nor was he involved in selecting or editing the challenged clip ' At the time the challenged broadcast was aired, Stewart had never heard of Plaintiff and did not know he lived in Texas.'

As for general jurisdiction, which is based on continuous, systematic, and substantial contacts with the forum state, the district court noted that Stewart 'has never lived in Texas, has never owned any real property in Texas, has never maintained an office in Texas, has never had any employees or agents in Texas, has never had any professional licenses, bank accounts or telephone listings in Texas and has only visited Texas twice ' once to perform a show in Lubbock in the mid-1990s and once to perform a show in Austin in 1998 or 1999.'

The district court then dismissed Busch's remaining claims as to Viacom International. On the defamation claim, the court emphasized: '[B]ecause Plaintiff's image appears in a 'fake endorsement' ' of Robertson's diet shake on The Daily Show, a satiric program, no reasonable viewer would have believed that the challenged clip contained assertions of fact about Plaintiff.' The misappropriation claim was then dismissed on the ground that 'Plaintiff's image was in the public domain after he voluntarily appeared on The 700 Club in July 2005 to publicly discuss his use of Pat's Diet Shake ' Moreover, as discussed above with regard to the dismissal of Plaintiff's defamation claim, the First Amendment protects parody.'