Admission Consultants, Inc. v. Google [1]

Admission Consultants, Inc. filed a motion for pre-action discovery in New York court, asking Google for identifying information relating to two email addresses tied to anonymous posts to a forum about business schools on BusinessWeek.com [2]. The objected-to comments criticized the company in various regards.  In one, the commenter stated that he was shocked at Admission Consultants' lack of response to its unsatisfied customers.  In another, the commenter stated that he agreed with the statements on the message thread that Admission Consultants was not a legitimate company.  In a third, the commenter said that "[t]hese guys sound like complete crooks." 

In a December 2008 decision, the court denied Admission Consultants' request for discovery, finding that the comments could not support a defamation claim because they were statements of opinion, not fact.  Therefore, Admission Consultants could not show that it had " a meritorious cause of action and that the information being sought is material and necessary to the actionable wrong," as required for pre-action discovery in New York.  The court also ruled that a message on a forum that "bumped" the messages above it did not constitute a "republication of the defamation for every message posted previously."