Facebook in Litigation - 2

This is part two of Tara Pollitt's article on Facebook in Ontario litigation.

The Murphy case was followed in Leduc v. Roman,[1] an appeal of a Master’s decision. Justice Brown held that a party who maintains a private Facebook account stands in no different position than one who maintains a publicly accessible profile and to permit a party to hide behind privacy controls on a website designed to share social information is to deprive the other party of material relevant to ensuring a fair trial. In Leduc the defendant had obtained an initial order requiring the plaintiff to preserve the website prior to the balance of the motion being heard. This approach is useful to prevent information from being changed or deleted before the motion can be heard.

Facebook was used recently in a trial decision out of Newfoundland called Terry v. Mullowney.[2] The plaintiff was cross-examined at trial using printouts from his publicly accessible Facebook account. The Court explicitly noted that the material from Facebook showed the plaintiff had a full and active social life and without that evidence he would have been left with a very different view of the plaintiff’s social life. The information was a critical factor in reducing the claim from approximately $1.3 million to $40,000.

[1] [2009] O.J. No. 681 (S.C.J.).
[2] 2009 NLTD 56 (Canlii).