Doe v. 2TheMart.com. Inc.
United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
140 F. Supp. 2d 1088 (W.D. Wa. 2001)
2TheMart.com (TMRT) (defendant) was a publicly traded company discussed on an online bulletin board where users, including one going by "NoGuano" (plaintiff), posted anonymously about the company. TMRT was sued by its shareholders for fraud and raised a defense that its stock drop was really caused by illegal manipulation from anonymous board posters. TMRT subpoenaed the board's host for the posters' identifying information. NoGuano moved to quash the subpoena, invoking a First Amendment right to speak anonymously.
Whether a compelling discovery need for an anonymous non-party's identity can outweigh that non-party's First Amendment right to speak anonymously.