Lerner v. GalaxyFacts [1]

Slava Lerner, the President of the Galaxy Towers Condominium Association, sought pre-action discovery from Michael Deluca, publisher of GalaxyFacts [2], a website forum used by Galaxy Towers condo owners to discuss a variety of issues, including the Association’s governance and leadership.  Lerner sought the identities of anonymous commenters who "accused [him] of improprieties with Galaxy funds, and 'nasty personal attacks,'" Deluca told the Hudson Reporter [3].

Initially, a New Jersey trial judge granted Lerner's request to depose Deluca and to obtain information from the website.  Subsequently, with the help of Public Citizen, Deluca filed a motion for reconsideration, which the court granted [4] in March 2010.  

In an oral ruling [5], Judge Hector Velazquez held that Rule 4:11-1, the New Jersey rule of civil procedure governing pre-suit discovery, does not authorize pre-suit discovery in order to learn the identities of potential defendants. Citing the Dendrite [6] case, the court explained that “[New Jersey] courts have set forth a procedure whereby a party seeking to file a complaint for defamation can sue anonymous speakers even before he or she knows who they are,” adding that “in those circumstances, pre-complaint discovery would not be appropriate.” Tr. [5] at 22. Because Lerner had not filed a John Doe complaint before seeking discovery, the court denied the requested discovery.