Name in Lisa Stone commenter case may not be revealed until spring

Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone won't get the real name of the online commenter who she said defamed her son in time for the holidays.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Lawrence in a brief court proceeding Friday morning granted a motion to stay release of the name pending an appeal filed by the attorney for Hipcheck16, according to Stone's attorney Bill O'Connor.

The action protects the release of the identity of Hipcheck16, a screen name used by a commenter on dailyherald.com. O'Connor said both sides probably won't be ready to go forward in appellate court until April, meaning resolution of the matter is months away.

The court will need to prepare a record for appeal before the next court date and it's anybody's guess on how long that may take.

"It kind of makes it tough to tell," said the commenter's attorney, Mike Furlong.

Furlong said he wasn't authorized to say anything about how his client was reacting during these proceedings.

Stone said the commenter made offensive online remarks to her teenage son in April during a heated election campaign. She filed discovery petitions against the Daily Herald and the commenter's Internet service provider, Comcast, seeking Hipcheck16's identity.

The actions could be precursors to a lawsuit against the commenter, but Stone hasn't decided whether a lawsuit will be filed if she gets the name, according to O'Connor. Furlong said he's received no indication of a possible lawsuit.

Judge Lawrence ruled last month the commenter's name would be released Friday if no appeal were filed. He also said Stone could only reveal the commenter's name to her husband. Her attorneys and the sheriff also would have access to it.