The comments appeared on websites belonging to a party in a
property dispute, Jerry Pantelidis and his company JPA Development.
The law firm, Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg & Ellers, acted
for the other side.
The comments that appeared in a guest book on one site were
brutal. Of the firm's relationship with its client, the court noted
that someone wrote: "Wow! A match made in their respective heavens:
Money hungry, without ethics, f**k everybody, eat my partner,
backstabbing … Wow! A perfect match."
The law firm demanded to know who had posted the comments.
Pantelidis refused to say, arguing that to do so would be in breach
of free speech rights.
However, according to Judge Albert W Sheppard Jr, some of the
comments were sufficiently strong to amount to “defamation per
se”.
The judge therefore ordered the disclosure of the identities
of those responsible. "While the posters are undeniably entitled to
First Amendment rights, the defamatory per se statements are not
entitled to First Amendment protection," he wrote.
