A judge recently barred the Galaxy Towers Condominium Association’s president from immediate access to online posters’ information.
The website www.galaxyfacts.com was started by a resident, Michael R. Deluca, five years ago as a forum for residents to voice their comments and criticisms about all of the things that went on in the Guttenberg towers. The website grew to have a chat room and has gotten over 100,000 hits.
But Deluca, a computer analyst, said that around eight months ago, someone on his site began to criticize GTCA President Slava Lerner, who was running for reelection as president on March 10, 2010. Lerner went on to win the election.
The owner of a local website does not have to give up anonymous posters’ information for now.
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In December, Lerner hired attorney Dennis Deutsch and filed a petition in New Jersey Superior Court asking for an order that would allow him to gain the identity of the posters through Deluca’s computer and website.
Deluca himself didn’t want to reveal posters’ identities. He said that the posters’ comments as well as his website are protected under the First Amendment.
In recent years, courts have tried to navigate the fine line between protecting on-line posters’ anonymity and keeping them from slandering other people on the internet. Laws are much clearer about the time-tested print and broadcast media.
Judge declines motion
After the petition was filed in court, Deluca enlisted the help of the Public Citizen Organization in Washington, D.C., a group which provides free legal services to protect First Amendment rights. He was represented by Paul Levy of the organization, as well as Rick Ravin of Paramus, N.J.
When Lerner first went to court, Judge Hector Velasquez ordered Deluca to be deposed and to have the contents of his website available. However, after Levy filed a motion for reconsideration citing a New Jersey Appellate Division case, that same judge rescinded the order.
In 2001, Dendrite v. Doe, which took place in the New Jersey Appellate Division, became a standard for online anonymity that has been followed throughout the country. It set a standard for judges to not grant pre-litigation discovery for prospective defamation suits. Instead, in order for Lerner to gain discovery, he must began a suit against John Doe defendants, give them notice on Deluca’s website, and prove that he has a defamation case.
A similar issue came up two years ago when anonymous posters on a site run by a local daily newspaper made comments about Secaucus officials.
Due to Lerner winning his most recent election, and with the judge’s order being recently overturned, Deluca thinks it is unlikely that Lerner will win his case.
“It’s just a waste of a lot of money,” said Deluca. “He is doing it just to shut people up and make them afraid to post on the website for fear of being sued.”
The other side
However, last week, attorney Dennis Deutsch said that the judge’s decision was based on a “technicality” and that other comments the judge made during the oral argument “indicated that he felt there was an underlying cause of a defamation case.”
“I don’t believe that the Dendrite case stands for the proposition that the internet serves as a safe barrier from defamation,” said Deutsch.
He said that the case did protect anonymity to a certain degree and is relied on by many states in the country, but that there were limitations when it came to “otherwise illegal activity.”
He said that the statements made about his client, Lerner, were absolutely false and that he plans to file a defamation case according to Dendrite procedures shortly.
Lerner himself did not comment, while his attorney spoke for him.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.