Melvin v. Doe [1]

Joan Melvin, a Pennsylvania Superior Court judge, sued the anonymous operator or operators of the website, "Grant Street '99," because of statements that appeared on the website accusing her of political activity and lobbying in connection with the gubernatorial appointment of another judge.

Melvin initially sued the anonymous defendant(s) for defamation in Virginia state court and sought an ex parte order requiring America Online (the website's hosting service) to disclose the identity of the webmaster. The Virginia court dismissed [2] the action for lack of personal jurisdiction, and Melvin re-filed the lawsuit in Pennsylvania state court and subpoenaed AOL for discovery of the identity of the webmaster. Through counsel, the anonymous defendant(s) moved for a protective order against discovery of their identities on grounds that the First Amendment protected the right to engage in anonymous political speech.

The trial court initially stayed discovery of the identity of the defendant(s) and allowed ordinary fact discovery to proceed in order to give the defendant(s) the opportunity to show that Melvin could not prevail in the lawsuit. The defendant(s) moved for summary judgment, arguing, among other things, that Melvin could produce no evidence of economic harm. The trial court denied the motion for summary judgment, finding that Melvin had brought forth evidence of falsity, defamatory meaning, and actual harm. At this point, the court denied [3] the defendant(s)' motion for a protective order barring discovery of their identities pending a trial on all issues but malice.

The anonymous defendant(s) appealed. The Superior Court quashed the appeal, holding that the denial of a motion for a protective order was not an appealable collateral order. The anonymous defendant(s) appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which reversed the decision of the Superior Court, holding that the discovery ruling was appealable. The court remanded the case to the Superior Court "for consideration of Appellants' constitutional question, namely, whether the First Amendment requires a public official defamation plaintiff to establish a prima facie case of actual economic harm prior to obtaining discovery of an anonymous defamation defendant's identity." Melvin v. Doe [4], 836 A.2d 42, 50 (Pa. 2003).

Melvin voluntarily dropped the lawsuit in 2004.

Later, former Alleghany County employee John Chapman revealed that he was behind "Grant Street '99."