Covington v. King [1]

Sometime in 2007, statements appeared on Harold King's forum site, "McAlister Watercooler," questioning the legality of Steve Covington's payday loan business and linking him to a former State Senator who had pled guilty to charges of perjury, conspiracy to obstruct a Federal Election Commission investigation, and conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Commission Act.

In June 2007, Covington sued King and an undefined number of anonymous users of the forum for libel in Oklahoma state court. Covington sought a temporary restraining order against the forum, but the record is unclear as to the precise nature of the requested restraining order (i.e., to remove specific content, take down the site, or restrain future statements). Covington also moved for an order granting expedited discovery (presumably, discovery of the unknown defendants' identities). The court denied Covington's motion for a temporary restraining order in June 2007. The status of Covington's discovery request is unclear.

Update:

6/14/2007 - King filed a motion to dismiss.

3/28/2008 - Court granted King's motion to dismiss.