(Credit: Topix, screenshot)

We wrote earlier this year when a jury awarded a Texas couple $13.7 million in a libel lawsuit against online comments accusing them of “rape, drug dealing and molestation.”  The comments were posted on “Topix, an Internet community bulletin board.”

But that ruling was “thrown out” in a recent appeal, the Star-Telegram reported.

The judge, state District Judge Dana Womack, agreed that “the jury’s verdict was not supported by the evidence.”  For example, defendants Charlie Doescher, Shannon Coyel and Gerald Coyel indicated there wasn’t any proof that they wrote the posts or that the Leshers’ reputations or finances were damaged.