MOUNT VERNON — Citing illness, local attorney Scott Pullins did not attend a hearing Monday in Knox County Common Pleas Court.
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The hearing required Pullins to explain two subpoenas that he issued to ECR, the company that runs KnoxPages.com, a local Internet forum.
Because Pullins was not in attendance, visiting judge Thomas Curran ordered that the hearing be rescheduled.
Pullins issued the subpoenas in question as part of his libel case against State Rep. Thom Collier. He has since dismissed that case.
According to the Knox County court, the Pullins vs. Collier case was suspended/stayed on Oct. 20, 2006, awaiting a ruling in the Ohio Court of Claims.
The court claims that Pullins then issued the two subpoenas, after the case had been suspended.
The subpoenas requested information from ECR about the identity of Internet posters on the KnoxPages.com forum.
Curran, who was appointed to hear the case after Judge Otho Eyster voluntarily recused himself, ordered Pullins to appear before the court and explain the subpoenas.
Pullins objected to the order and took his argument to the 5th District Court of Appeals, essentially claiming that since the case had been dismissed, the Knox County court had no authority to require Pullins to appear.
According to Assistant Knox County Prosecutor Rob Broeren, the appellate court dismissed Pullins’ argument early Monday morning, allowing the hearing to go forward as scheduled, albeit without Pullins.
In the courtroom, Curran summarized the events that led up to the hearing and then declared a recess, ordering that the proceeding be rescheduled so that Pullins could appear to explain the subpoenas at a later date.
According to the Knox County Common Pleas Court, the hearing is tentativly rescheduled for May 31, at noon.