Ind. high court declines Star’s disclosure appeal

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Star likely must identify a person making anonymous comments on its website after the Indiana Supreme Court refused to hear its appeal.

The high court Thursday denied the Star’s motion to take jurisdiction from the Indiana Court of Appeals, whose temporary stay of a local ruling ordering the identification has expired.

Junior Achievement CEO Jeffrey Miller and Cynthia Miller are suing the Star over a 2010 comment regarding the organization’s financial affairs which Miller claims defamed him. The Marion County judge hearing that case ordered the Star to identify the author of the comment, and the Star appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 7 that the Star couldn’t appeal because the judge’s order wasn’t a final judgment in the case.