Cyberbullying in GMIT

gaeilgegrinds1

GLad to see this case settled, huge business this cyberbullying, not only done by teens. Bring back paper!

gaeilgegrinds1

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

GLad to see this case settled, huge business this cyberbullying, not only done by teens. Bring back paper!

Huh ?

coldwood92

rarnes1 wrote: »

Huh ?

same

PopeBuckfastXVI

Missing link?

majiktripp

GMIT Email Case Settled



A libel action by a Galway college lecturer against two colleagues who circulated defamatory emails about him has been settled before the High Court.

Terry Casey from Barna in Galway, a lecturer in Marketing at the School of Business in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology took what is understood to be among the first civil libel cases for material circulated in an email to be settled.

Mr Casey took the action against the Head of the School of Business in GMIT, Larry Elwood, and the Head of the Business Studies Department and GMIT, Deirdre Lusby.
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At the High Court this morning an apology from the defendants was read.

It said that in an attachment to emails circulated by them in January 2005, they published remarks which were defamatory to Mr Casey in the way of his office, calling and profession.

It said the allegations were entirely without foundation and have caused Mr Casey considerable distress, anxiety and upset.

They accepted their serious error in publishing the defamatory remarks.

They unreservedly apologised and agreed to pay Mr Casey a substantial sum in damages and costs.

Afterwards Mr Casey said he was delighted and overjoyed with the settlement.

It was a complete vindication of his position and reputation.

He said to have to take the proceedings in the first place had caused him great personal distress, but such was the concerted assault on his reputation integrity and good name that he had absolutely no alternative.

He thanked friends, colleagues and his family and legal team for their support.

The details of the settlement could not be made public however sources indicated a six-figure sum was agreed.

PopeBuckfastXVI

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

GLad to see this case settled, huge business this cyberbullying, not only done by teens. Bring back paper!

Or potentially another cap on free speech and the free exchange of ideas.

I'd like to see the content of the mails before declaring it an unambiguous victory...

gaeilgegrinds1

There's free speech and there is bullying, I trust our courts on this one, been following it a long time now.

pudgeydev

Seen that on the news this morning, it came across that there was one email sent between two people having a bit.ch about him?
Or was there more to it than that?

Bob_Harris

Must be awkward having to continue to go to work together. Especially with the 6 figure settlement.

_Whimsical_

pudgeydev wrote: »

Seen that on the news this morning, it came across that there was one email sent between two people having a bit.ch about him?
Or was there more to it than that?

majiktripp wrote: »

GMIT Email Case Settled

It said that in an attachment to emails circulated by them in January 2005, they published remarks which were defamatory to Mr Casey in the way of his office, calling and profession.

It said the allegations were entirely without foundation and have caused Mr Casey considerable distress, anxiety and upset.

They accepted their serious error in publishing the defamatory remarks.

They unreservedly apologised and agreed to pay Mr Casey a substantial sum in damages and costs.

Afterwards Mr Casey said he was delighted and overjoyed with the settlement.

It was a complete vindication of his position and reputation.

He said to have to take the proceedings in the first place had caused him great personal distress, but such was the concerted assault on his reputation integrity and good name that he had absolutely no alternative.

He thanked friends, colleagues and his family and legal team for their support.

The details of the settlement could not be made public however sources indicated a six-figure sum was agreed.

"Concerted" would infer that it was an going matter rather than a one off email. Also it says "emails circulated by them" which would mean to me that the emails were sent to more than the 2 people involved and that this was not just a private communication.

I think he was very courageous to take the case and I am very glad that the courts sided with him, both for his sake and for the rest of us. It's the first case of it's kind in Ireland so it sets an important precedent that any of us might have to rely on in future.

Work place bullying is horrible but once it is unleashed onto the internet it has the potential to cause serious harm to someones professional and personal reputation in the wider world. All too often the internet is vehicle for mocking and ridicule and most people tend to be a hell of a lot braver spewing nonsense about others from behind their keyboard than they are in person.

Maybe this case will make some people think twice and save someone else being put in a position like Mr Casey. I say congratulations to him and I hope the other two people involved are suitably ashamed of themselves.

JohnCleary

lol morkeshing

That is all.

Robbo

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

There's free speech and there is bullying, I trust our courts on this one, been following it a long time now.

chilly wrote: »

I think he was very courageous to take the case and I am very glad that the courts sided with him, both for his sake and for the rest of us. It's the first case of it's kind in Ireland so it sets an important precedent that any of us might have to rely on in future.

It's worth noting that this settled without going to trial, therefore to say that the courts sided with anyone is disingenuous. I'd be wary of declaring this some kind of landmark without it running fully.

If it actually went to trial, we would know the contents of the emails rather than just blindly speculating as to their contents.

That said, it seemed like quite the coup and the man's reputation is restored.

Does anyone know the number of emails or how long the cyberbullying went on for? TBH if there were a number of emails and the cyberbullying was over the period of a few years then a 6figure sum is the least that he could've gotten.

Like another poster said - there's free speech and then there's bullying. The latter should be condemned

Gooseygoosey

According to the report on the news at 1 on RTE 1 Radio yesterday, the email was circulated to at least 47 other people.

Where as I think Ireland is going a bit down the line of sue-nation, but wouldn't you think that those who are in charge of teaching students about the way of business would know better then to commit a now evidently liable remark to paper, or in this case email. Surely elements of law are part of the teaching curriculum (I don't know, I am just assuming)

Personally, it doesn't reflect well on the 2 people charged, not that they were sued but that they were silly enough to do it in the first place. Perhaps the 2 thought that they were invincible. A bit smart perhaps. I doubt that they were slagging off his skills as a driver or his taste in clothes. Let them badmouth somebody, but perhaps don't write it down without absolution. Propriety and professionalism seemed to be absent in January 2005.

As part of the settlement, the contents of the email are kept secret.

gaeilgegrinds1

It says something of their content in that a six figure sum was paid to keep them secret, I know one of the parties involved and all I'll say is common courteous would appear to have disappeared, let alone professionalism. At the end of the day we're all human and this type of behaviour is far from acceptable in my opinion.

Clemon

Very Funny that a mod on here has complained about caps being put on free speech. And if ya dont know now ya know Nígga

Sponge Bob

It was one email circulated to 47 people and attached to it was a survey carried out by students. The case may have hinged on comments made about the survey or indeed comments not made about the survey ....but should have been.

As it was settled there is no interesting case law

biko

Clemon wrote: »

Very Funny that a mod on here has complained about caps being put on free speech. And if ya dont know now ya know Nígga

Time off for that racist remark (even if it is from a rap song).

Since incident/case is closed now I don't see a reason to leave thread open, PM me or another mod if anyone disagrees.
I wager the person mentioned in the OP wouldn't want this thread to continue.

Btw, there is no free speech on boards - I don't know why people keep thinking this.
Boards is a privately owned site and when you post here you agree to obey the rules laid out by the admins.

biko

Ok apparently that's not all she wrote.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/12904-gmit-will-not-discipline-two-staff-guilty-email-libel

Thread reopened, for now.

Sponge Bob

But sure I told ye all this last week

“GMIT wishes to clarify that the defamatory comments were not written by either Larry Elwood or Deirdre Lusby but were contained in a student survey which was circulated by email to other staff members in error,” she said

Defamation merely by attachment is an interesting concept. EG were the mods to tolerate pictures of sponges with things stuck in them in this forum I could get very cross with them

frank.murray

The two head of departement and head of school should be disciplined.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Sponge Bob wrote: »

But sure I told ye all this last week



Defamation merely by attachment is an interesting concept. EG were the mods to tolerate pictures of sponges with things stuck in them in this forum I could get very cross with them

Dangerous stuff, mind you I don't want to comment too much on it, given the nature of the case, and I certainly shouldn't be quoting other posters...

bigeasyeah

I had a notion that they created a giant robotic cyberbully.The real story was always going to pale in comparison.

Sponge Bob

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

Dangerous stuff, mind you I don't want to comment too much on it

It always warms the cockles of my heart when you so obliquely guarantee my safety from cyberbullying by attachment Popey. No sponge pr0n allowed in the Galway forum , it's now official.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Sponge Bob wrote: »

No sponge pr0n allowed in the Galway forum , it's now official.

I had thought it was implied, but yes, let's be clear, no sponge pr0n in GC (forum, I can't guarantee it's not anywhere in the IRL city) folks.

Sponge Bob

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

I had thought it was implied, but yes, let's be clear, no sponge pr0n in GC (forum, I can't guarantee it's not anywhere in the IRL city) folks.

You are an absolute star Popey. Bless.

skelliser

I heard he got 600k!!

snubbleste

Did anyone else notice the newspaper headline uses the word 'guilty' ?

Head The Wall

snubbleste wrote: »

Did anyone else notice the newspaper headline uses the word 'guilty' ?

What was in these surveys was obviously somones honest opinion. Is it not just his tough luck that people dislike him.

If what was in the statement was false, how far do people have to go to ensure absolutely everything they post/send etc is 100% correct.

Tuamlad

He's a genuine nice man he thought me last year. Didnt deserve to have his name dragged through the mud. The cheek of Lusby and Elwood!!!

Mrs OBumble

Today's article in the Galway Indo sheds a lot more light.

The last paragraph says

In response to some of the media coverage of the settlement of these proceedings and queries arising there from, GMIT wishes to clarify that the defamatory comments were not written by either Larry Elwood or Deirdre Lusby but were contained in a student survey, which was circulated by email to other staff members in error.

So ... in response to the OP, it most probably was bratty teens after all!

I remember when student feedback about lecturer performance was first introduced (overseas): it took some folks a while to cop on the fact that it was actually a serious exercise, and that making base-less claims about lecturer's behaviour wasn't worth doing, and could get innocent people fired.

Personally I'm not at all in favour of anonymous feedback forms: if a comment cannot be identified, it should not be made unless there is an independent investigation that will test its validity.

_Whimsical_

I was surprised by the content and tone of the article in the Galway Independent. If the problem was solely that they forwarded on a lecturer evaluation form it seems very hard to understand why they'd then settle out of court and pay a six figure sum to avoid going before the courts and making the details of the case public.

JustMary: i agree with you points about anonymous evaluations.

Andrea B.

it seems very hard to understand why they'd then settle out of court and pay a six figure sum to avoid going before the courts and making the details of the case public.

It wasn't that "they" settled out of court.

Be it a six figure or seven figure some, it was probably easy to agree on when it was not the monies of any of the parties involved.

It was your money and my money.

Let's also be clear on one thing. No legal precedent has been set here, as it was not a judicial decision.

_Whimsical_

Andrea B. wrote: »

It wasn't that "they" settled out of court.

Be it a six figure or seven figure some, it was probably easy to agree on when it was not the monies of any of the parties involved.

It was your money and my money.

Let's also be clear on one thing. No legal precedent has been set here, as it was not a judicial decision.

I was not suggesting that it was.

po0k

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

I had thought it was implied, but yes, let's be clear, no sponge pr0n in GC (forum, I can't guarantee it's not anywhere in the IRL city) folks.

/me opens spongerotica.zip

Andrea B.

I was not suggesting that it was.

SorryChilly. Was not directed at your post.

Just the "they" side of it, in case of readers who might believe that the parties had personally paid.

mike kelly

Tuamlad wrote: »

He's a genuine nice man he thought me last year. Didnt deserve to have his name dragged through the mud. The cheek of Lusby and Elwood!!!

people who think otherwise should be free to air their opinion. It is crazy that he can sue because some students don't like him. We should have public rankings of third level courses and lecturers.