IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY,
ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT, LAW DIVISION 

ARNOLD B. BOWKER, JOHN A. JOSLIN and the CARIB INN,
a foreign corporation, 

Petitioners,

V.

AMERICA ONLINE, INC., a foreign corporation
doing business in Illinois,

Respondent.

Return Date: September 26, 1995


NO. 95L 013509

CALENDAR  B

DISCOVERY
VERIFIED PETITION FOR DISCOVERY

Petitioners, ARNOLD B. BOWKER ("Bowker"), JOHN A. JOSLIN ("Joslin"),
and the CARIB INN (collectively, "Petitioners"), through their
attorneys, Levin & Funkhouser, Ltd., pursuant to Illinois Supreme
Court Rule 224, and for their Verified Petition For Discovery (the
"Petition") to Respondent, AMERICA ONLINE, INC., a foreign corporation
doing business in Illinois ("AOL"), state as follows: 

INTRODUCTION

1.   This is an action for discovery before suit to identify
responsible persons and entities.  The Petitioners intend to file a
suit, sounding in defamation and false light invasion of privacy,
against the persons and/or entities responsible for the origination
and dissemination of statements through the use of AOL's subscriber
services, electronic bulletin boards and electronic mail, which
statements falsely impute negligent or criminal actions and other
misconduct to the Petitioners. 

PARTIES, JURISDICTION AND VENUE

2.   Petitioners Bowker and Joslin are United States citizens and
current residents of Bonaire, Netherlands-Antilles.  Bowker operates
the Carib Inn, a tropical resort and scuba diving facility (the "Inn")
located in Bonaire.  Joslin is a scuba diving instructor for the Inn. 

3.   The Inn attracts hundreds of guests and divers from the Midwest
because of its superb reputation for scuba diving and hospitality, by
maintaining a good relationship with Illinois scuba diving shops,
placing advertisements in nationally distributed scuba diving and
resort magazines, and through the posting of messages by the Inn and
its patrons on various electronic bulletin boards on the Internet. 
The Inn also has a three-page advertisement placed on the Internet
through the World Wide Web. Approximately 6-10% of the Inn's guests
and divers over the past year originated from the state of Illinois. 

4.   On information and belief, AOL is a Delaware corporation doing
business in Illinois.  On information and belief, AOL sells
subscriptions and/or memberships to computer users who shop and
interact with other computer users, including residents of Illinois,
through AOL's electronic bulletin boards on the Internet. 

5.   On information and belief, AOL maintains a membership list and
can otherwiseidentify current and past subscribers who utilized its
services to post individual messages on its bulletin boards.  In
addition, on information and belief, AOL maintains payment records for
its subscribers and members to further identify those who have used
its services. 

6.   Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court
Rule 224(a)(ii) as this is a Court in which the action or proceeding
might be brought, as well as a county in which the Respondent from
whom discovery is sought transacts business. 

BACKGROUND FACTS

7.   On or about June 3, 1995, an unknown subscriber or member of AOL
(or someone utilizing that person's subscription or membership) posted
at least one defamatory and libelous statement on AOL's electronic
bulletin board devoted to scuba diving, accusing Petitioners of
various unsafe business practices and commission of a crime. (A copy
of the original posting is attached hereto as Exhibit A.) The AOL
subscriber's charges of misconduct and unsafe business practices, were
false, malicious and made with the intent to injure Petitioners'
reputations and rights of privacy, including among other things, the
loss of business opportunities and emotional distress. 

8.   On July 30, 1995, Bowker and Joslin became aware of the libelous
statements through correspondence from a frequent patron of the Inn
who had read the message that had been posted on AOL's bulletin board.
 On several occasions, Bowker has corresponded with the party(s) who
allegedly posted the original message in order to secure a retraction
and to refute the false and libelous allegations.  To date, however,
Petitioners have been unable to ascertain the identity of the AOL
subscriber(s) or member(s) who transmitted the original and subsequent
messages in order to halt such activities and sue for damages. 

9.   The messages posted on AOL's scuba diving bulletin board are
accessible from every state in the United States, and the defwnatory
message has been accessed in Illinois. It is unknown at this time, how
many citizens of this State have read the posted material or
corresponded through electronic mail with the unknown subscfiber(s) or
member(s) of AOL and decided not to come to the Inn because of the
malicious and false accusations that were made. 

10.  Petitioners seek discovery from AOL, requesting AOL to produce
complete copies or printouts of computer screens and other documents
revealing subscriber information, applications for membership and
payment records which could enable Petitioners to identify and locate
those individuals and/or entities responsible for the posting of the
defamatory material and other messages on AOL's bulletin boards or in
electronic mail. 

WHEREFORE, Petitioners, Arnold B. Bowker, John A. Joslin, and the
Carib Inn, pray that this Court enter an order compelling the
discovery requested herein from Respondent, America Online, Inc. 

Respectfully submitted,

ARNOLD B. BOWKER, JOHN A. JOSLIN, and
the CARIB INN, Petitioners

Lawrence R. Levin, Esq.
Daniel T. Graham, Esq.
James F. Groth, Esq.
LEVIN & FUNKHOUSER, LTD.
Xerox Centre - Suite 241 0
55 West Monroe Street
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Phone: 312/701-6800
Fax: 312/641-2640
Finn ID #1 1961

Attorneys for Petitioners, Arnold B. Bowker, 

John A. Joslin, and the Carib Inn


VERIFICATION BY CERTIFICATION

Under penalties as provided by law pursuant to Section 5/1-109 of the
Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS_5/1-109), the undersigned
certifies that I have read the foregoing Verified Petition For
Discovery and that the statements set forth therein are true and
correct, except as to matters therein stated to be on information and
belief, and as to such matters the undersigned certifies as aforesaid
that he verily believes the same to be true. 

Dated: September 12, 1995

EXHIBIT

From: Jenny TRR

My husband and I visited the Carib Inn last month.  Since I'm a little
new at diving needless to say diving with a stoned instructor was a
little scarry. We left after three days and went to Sand Dollar. I
won't mention his name but he's the only white instructor there.  Sand
Dollar was super nice.