An Ironton man has filed a lawsuit against four anonymous commenters on a popular social networking website for comments he claims defamed his character and harmed his reputation.

Ralph E. Cox Jr., of South Ninth Street, filed the lawsuit March 8 in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court against four defendants referred to in the document as John Doe, Jane Doe, John Doe and Jane Doe, who allegedly posted comments on Topix.net.

The lawsuit alleges that on Feb. 24, the unknown defendants posted written statements on the website that portrayed Cox in a false and untrue manner.

“At the time the defendants made and published the statements the defendants had no reasonable cause to believe that the statements were true,” the lawsuit states in part. “Defendants knew that the statements were false or demonstrated a reckless disregard for its truth. Notwithstanding defendants intentionally published the statements, even though defendants knew, or should have known that it would result in harm to plaintiff’s interest.”

The lawsuit alleges further that the defendants published the statements maliciously with the intention to injure, vex or annoy the plaintiff and that as a result of the statements, the defendant’s character was defamed and that his reputation has been irreparably harmed.

Topix.net is a Palo Alto, Calif., based company that links news from 50,000 sources to 360,000 user-generated forums, according to the website.

Ironton attorney Brigham Anderson represents Cox. Anderson said he has issued to the website subpoenas requesting the IP addresses of those who made the comments. He expects to receive them within 30 days. Once he receives the IP addresses, subpoenas requesting the defendants’ names will be sent to their Internet providers. Once the names are determined, the lawsuit can be amended to name the four individuals, Anderson said.

According to the terms of service found on Topix.net, the website does not take responsibility for what is posted there.

“You agree that we are not liable for any content that is provided or posted by you or others,” the terms state. “We have no duty to pre-screen your content or the content of others, but we have the right to refuse to post or to edit submitted content. You understand and acknowledge that by using Topix, you may be exposed to content that may be offensive, indecent or objectionable.

“We may remove any content for any reason, but we are not responsible for any failure or delay in removing any content. Topix does not claim ownership of the content you submit, but you grant us a license to use the content.”

The Topix site is not named in the lawsuit.

The suit seeks $25,000 in actual damages, punitive damages in excess of $25,000, and attorney fees in excess of $5,000 as well as court costs and any other relief the court may deem fair.