Commenter to remain anonymous, for now

A Cook County judge Wednesday ruled an online commenter known as Hipcheck16 can remain anonymous for another month before his identity is turned over to Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone.

In a brief hearing, Cook Court Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Lawrence issued an order requiring the identity of Hipcheck16 will be turned over to Stone Dec. 18 unless an appeal is filed.

An appeal is expected, which would further delay disclosure while the appeal is heard, said Hipcheck16's attorney, Mike Furlong.

Hipcheck16 is the screen name of a man whom Stone says made an offensive comment to her teenage son in the readers comments section of a story on dailyherald.com in April. Stone filed discovery petitions - a precursor to a lawsuit - against both the Daily Herald and Comcast seeking the man's identity, and so far the court has ruled in her favor. Comcast was the man's Internet provider.

In his order Wednesday, Judge Lawrence also restricted Stone from revealing Hipcheck16's identity to anyone other than her husband, Gary, or to the person who would serve Hipcheck16 with a lawsuit.

Stone has not yet decided whether she'll actually file a lawsuit, her attorney, Bill O'Connor, said.