Vegas company loses bid to find Internet posters

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2002 | 11:14 a.m.

A federal judge denied a request by Mikohn Gaming Corp. to subpoena records from Yahoo! Inc. to locate and identify the parties who allegedly posted numerous "horrific, awful and embarrassing" defamatory messages on the Yahoo! Internet site about the personal life of a top executive, whom it did not identify.

Mikohn, a Las Vegas-based casino supplier, said its efforts to take legal action against the individuals operating under the screen names of "thechosenoneee" and "rich-the-loser" were blocked by message board host Yahoo!'s refusal to release information on the individuals' identities -- including the IP addresses of their computers -- without a valid subpoena.

But U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks denied Mikohn's request, saying its attempt to use a certain federal rule of civil procedure to determine against whom an action should be taken is inappropriate.

"Rather, it (the civil rule) properly applies only in that special category of cases where it is necessary to prevent testimony from being lost," he said.

Hicks also said Mikohn failed to show that the contemplated defamation lawsuit for which testimony is sought is a federal claim.

"As Mikohn asserts that it contemplates filing a defamation action, a state claim, it must show that conditions for diversity jurisdiction will be met," he wrote in the ruling.

Mikohn officials could not be reached for comment on whether it will continue to pursue this case.