Slava Lerner, the President of the Galaxy Towers Condominium Association, sought pre-action discovery from Michael Deluca, publisher of GalaxyFacts, 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.

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 in March 2010.  

In an oral ruling, 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 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. at 22. Because Lerner had not filed a John Doe complaint before seeking discovery, the court denied the requested discovery.   

In September and October 2009, Aldo Cipriani, Town Counsel for Southborough, MA, exchanged letters with Susan Fitzgerald, publisher of MySouthborough.com, a blog dedicated to local politics. Cipriani's letters requested that Fitzgerald turn over the identity of a commenter going by the moniker "Marty" and cautioned Fitzgerald to "more closely monitor remarks made on the communication site ensuring that when individuals speak to issues they do so accurately and without false allegations of violating state law." A letter from late October also advised her to retain records of IP addresses and other information.

According to the Boston Globe, the dispute revolves around meetings of a search committee set up to select a new police chief:

Marty’s posts questioned whether certain search committee meetings held in executive session, behind closed doors, violated the state’s open meeting laws. The posts insinuated the committee had unfair partiality toward the police force’s interim chief, Jane Moran, during the search process. The longtime department veteran was hired for the permanent position in November. (source)

According to MetroWest Daily News, Cipriani's September 22 letter asserted that "[c]ertain comments have been made about the citizen volunteer duly-appointed Police Chief Search Committee wrongly suggesting improprieties under state law," and asked "that you . . .  furnish the contact information for 'Marty' and/or his attorney so that we may raise our concerns directly." 

In a September 30 response, Fitzgerald refused to turn over Marty's identity.  She later told the Globe that she considered Marty's statements expressions of opinion, noting that “I may not agree, but I believe it is the commenter’s right to say it.’’  

The issue resurfaced in March when Selectmen Sal Giorlandino and Bonnie Phaneuf said recent comments posted under a police lieutenant story compelled them to consider legal action.  Selectman Giorlandino told the Globe: "References that say I'm not masculine enough to do my job, and another reference that involved burning Bonnie's (Phaneuf) undergarments, went over the line."

In January 2010, George Logan, City Attorney for Patterson, California, filed a lawsuit against John Doe defendants individually and collectively referring to themselves as "Fred Ross" over statements appearing on the Patterson IrriTator website and in comments posted to the Patterson Irrigator's website. According to the complaint, filed in California state court, the statements in question asserted that Logan was "in the pocket of developers" and a "joke."  The complaint includes claims for libel and conspiracy to libel.

A post on the Patterson IrriTator recommends that readers refrain from posting comments on the website "if you are concerned about your identity being revealed."

Update: 

03/10/2010-Fred Ross filed a motion to strike the complaint under California's anti-SLAPP law.

In October 2009, an Orange County grand jury subpoenaed The (Chester) Chronicle for information about the identities of two anonymous posters to its website. The comments in question related to the controversial tenure of Helen Anne Livingston, the Chester schools superintendent, according to recordonline.com.

The subpoena came after a series of informal requests from local public officials to have comments removed from the site and to reveal IP addresses of the posters.  According to The Chronicle, before the subpoena issued, a Chester police officer came to the newspaper's office requesting the same information.

In February 2010, Orange County Court Judge Nicholas De Rosa granted The Chronicle's motion to quash the subpoena, ruling that the government had not shown that the identities of the commenters were critical to an investigation before the grand jury. 

In December 2009, Apex Technology Group, Inc. and its principal Sarvesh Kumar Dharayan filed a lawsuit for defamation against John Does 1-10 and ABC Corporations 1-10 in New Jersey state court.  On December 3, 2009, Apex and Dharayan filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, seeking an injunction ordering the websites www.endH1B.com, www.itgrunt.com, and www.guestworkerfraud.com to remove certain forum postings about Apex and Dharayan that the plaintiffs claim are defamatory.  According to plaintiffs' motion, the postings include allegations that Apex "employees don't receive their salary at the end of the month. . . . [the salary] is usually received @ a random date in the following month, provided you are lucky," and that "once you file/transfer your H1B to them you more or less become their slave and you will get entangled in thier [sic] web of lies and legal documents."

On December 23, 2009, the court issued an order directing the websites' upstream hosts to disable access to the websites, and ordering Facebook, Yahoo! and Comcast to disclose the identity of the individual behind two email addresses associated with www.endH1b.com that plaintiffs alleged had included defamatory postings in an email newsletter.

Update:

6/25/2010 - Accordng to one of the defendants, the court granted his motion to dismiss the complaint and lift the court's Dec. 23, 2009 order.