Ed Palmer v. Does 1-20 [1]

Since March 2007, The Central Coast Housing Bubble Blog [2] published publicly available information about the legal and financial problems home builders and their financiers were having during the the Housing Bust. This included bankruptcies, foreclosures and civil disputes. A post published in March 2007 regarding the financial troubles and loan defaults of Alan Little Custom Homes has drawn the attention of one of Mr. Little's business partners, Eddie Iven Palmer. 

Mr Palmer is unhappy with anonymous commenters who posted details about his legal background and other opinions about his ethics and business partnerships. Mr. Palmer has now filed suit in San Luis Obispo County Court (Case #CV080374) against the anonymous commenters for libel and invasion of privacy and has subpoenaed Google for IP addresses in order to proceed with his case. Google has agreed to provide the information if there is no opposition or motions filed with the courts. The deadline is June 20, 2008. The blog or the blog author is NOT named in the suit or the subpoena. The commenters posted anonymously because the fear of retaliation is high which also necessitated the suspension of the blog.

(The portion above was submitted by Guest.)

Update:

02/04/09 - The New Times reports [3] that Palmer's attorney succeeded in compelling Google to provide information regarding "three individuals and one business."  As a result, at least two of the anonymous posters -- Al Brill and Scott Barnes -- have been identified and added as defendants in the suit.  Brill had unsuccessfully challenged the revelation on the ground that it was inconsistent with the First Amendment right to speak anonymously. 

04/10/09 - According to a press clipping on file with the CMLP, Ed Palmer passed away, presumably ending the case.