J.J. Gumberg Co. yesterday dropped its attempt to publicly identify a woman who was kidnapped outside one of its malls and then raped.

The woman, using the pseudonym Jane Doe, is suing Gumberg for monetary damages, claiming inadequate security at the Waterworks Mall in Pittsburgh left her vulnerable to the rapist.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Christine Ward permitted the woman to file her lawsuit against Gumberg without divulging her real name in court records. Gumberg appealed Judge Ward's ruling to Pennsylvania Superior Court, arguing that any litigant -- including a rape victim -- must precisely identify herself in a lawsuit.

A panel of three Superior Court judges was to hear arguments in the case next week, but Gumberg did a turnabout yesterday.

Thomas Gebler, a lawyer for the Braddock Hills-based company, withdrew Gumberg's appeal of Judge Ward's ruling. Mr. Gebler declined to discuss the reason.

William Pietragallo II, the lawyer representing the woman, said he was surprised the company backed down before getting its day in the appeals court.

"I can only speculate as to why. I believe they were legally wrong and that they became aware of the public's sensitivity about forcing the identification of a rape victim for no purpose except to intimidate her," Mr. Pietragallo said.

He said judges historically have allowed litigants to use pseudonyms in sensitive cases. Nationally, the most famous example of an anonymous litigant was in Roe versus Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion.

Gumberg lawyers have known the name of the Waterworks rape victim for more than a year. The woman, from Fox Chapel, testified in open court during the criminal trial of her attacker, Jimmy Lee Tayse.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also knows her identity, but the newspaper does not publish names of rape victims.

Mr. Tayse kidnapped the woman and her 16-month-old daughter in the Waterworks parking lot on April 7, 2007. He held a knife to the baby's throat, then ordered the woman to drive him to Ohio, where he raped her three times and robbed her.

Five hours after the attacks began, Mr. Tayse freed the woman and her little girl in Cleveland. Police captured him there the next day.

An Ohio jury last year convicted Mr. Tayse of 14 felonies. Now 31, he is serving a prison sentence of 67 years to life.

Mr. Pietragallo said he has agreed to provide Gumberg's lawyers with the woman's complete medical records in advance of the civil trial, which is scheduled for November.

After being raped by Mr. Tayse, the woman had to take a drug to ward off the possibility of AIDS. The woman also was under the care of a psychiatrist and a psychologist because of flashbacks and nightmares.

Her husband is a party to her lawsuit. Together, they allege that mall security was so lax that Mr. Tayse, of Johnstown, Cambria County, spent a night undetected in the Waterworks parking lot. He kidnapped the woman and her baby about 10:30 the next morning.

Mr. Gebler, responding for Gumberg in court filings, said the company was a conscientious corporate citizen, and that its security staff regularly assisted Pittsburgh police in fighting crime in and around the mall.