Judge Drops Internet Defamation Suit
In a case defense attorneys called the first to test the limits of Internet free speech, a judge asked a court to drop her defamation lawsuit against someone who criticized her in an Internet chat room.
Judge Joan Orie Melvin no longer wants to know the identity of a critic who denounced her on the Internet in 1999, court documents filed in the past week show.
No reason was given for the decision. Melvin's attorney, Jack Orie, did not immediately return a call to his office Saturday.
