A lawsuit originally filed against anonymous Topix.com users has been amended to include the name of a man who allegedly made defamatory statements about an Ironton man.

The lawsuit, which Ralph E. Cox Jr. originally filed March 8 in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court, was amended June 24 to list Mark Vaughan of Ironton as a defendant, as well as continuing to name John Doe and Jane Doe for any other violators.

The amended lawsuit alleges that on five days in late February and early March, Vaughan made defamatory statements that on the social networking site Topix. It further argues that because of the statements, Cox’s reputation was irreparably harmed.

Ironton attorney Brigham Anderson, who represents Cox, said there were more than 20 posts from five screen names with the same IP address. Vaughan was identified after Anderson subpoenaed the website for the IP address of the user or users making the statements and then subpoenaed Time Warner Cable for the name of the subscriber with that IP address.

Anderson said evidence in the case is still being discovered.

Contrary to popular thought, statements made on anonymous sites like Topix can be traced and were traced in this instance, Anderson said.

Topix’s terms of use state that the Palo Alto, Calif.,-based company is not liable for the content of the website. The website is not named in the suit.

The lawsuit seeks $25,000 in actual damages, punitive damages in excess of $25,000 and $5,000 in attorney fees.

As of Wednesday, Vaughan had not filed an answer to the suit. Anderson said the man has 28 days to do so.

Reached Friday morning, Vaughan said he knows Cox but was not aware of the lawsuit and denied making the comments.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve been at the (VA hospital in Chillicothe) a pretty good while — about a month and a half. Probably around two months.”

He added that he has had other stays at the hospital within the past few months, during which time others have had access to his computer and they could have made the comments.