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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Courts - "Attorney sues over comments posted on Kentucky.com"
The ILB has had a number of entires on impacts of and access to anonymous posts and comments, the most recent being a case of New Hampshire argued last week before their Supreme Court.
The Lexington Herald-Leader has a story today by Valarie Honeycutt Spears that begins:
The former attorney for accused killer Steve Nunn has filed a lawsuit against unnamed defendants who posted comments about her on Kentucky.com, a Web site operated by the Lexington Herald-Leader.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Fayette Circuit Court, Lexington attorney Astrida Lemkins contends someone wrote false, defamatory comments about her in response to a Sept. 18 article about Nunn.
Lemkins subpoenaed the Herald-Leader to produce the e-mail addresses of any individual who used the screen name "supercalifragilistic" to make comments about Lemkins.
"I'm just trying to find out who wrote those defamatory comments," Lemkins said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I'm trying to find out who it is so I can pursue further action."
Herald-Leader editor Peter Baniak said the comments in question have been removed from the site, and the user name has been blocked from Kentucky.com for violating the Web site's terms of service.
"At this time, we are attempting to contact the commenter to see if he or she wishes to object to the subpoena and assert his or her First Amendment right to anonymous speech," Baniak said in a statement Wednesday.
In her lawsuit, Lemkins is seeking damages of an unspecified amount, including those incurred for her pain and suffering.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 12, 2009 10:36 AM
Posted to Courts in general