Is there any caselaw involving the Boards website?

Reading some of the posts on the Harry and Meghan thread got me thinking about whether any legal proceedings have ever arisen involving posts or private messages on Boards. With the Harry and Meghan thread in mind, has there been any caselaw involving Boards and defamation, for example? Could posts or PMs be used in court? This query is not intended as speculation, simply factual. I would not want to prejudice any current or future legal proceedings. Thanks in advance.

Dublin Lad2021

Mr Hoppy wrote: »

Reading some of the posts on the Harry and Meghan thread got me thinking about whether any legal proceedings have ever arisen involving posts or private messages on Boards. With the Harry and Meghan thread in mind, has there been any caselaw involving Boards and defamation, for example? Could posts or PMs be used in court? This query is not intended as speculation, simply factual. I would not want to prejudice any current or future legal proceedings. Thanks in advance.

I don't know, I mean people post anonymously so it's hard to hold anyone accountable even if the user name was their real name, I mean I'm sure I could set up a profile as my brother's name, post how his boss at AIB is stealing or something like that and I don't know if Boards have to capacity to figure out IP addresses etc. unless someone made like a terrorist or bomb threat. Apart from that I wouldn't think so but I'm no expert

Tails142

I don't think case law but there was libel threats from an events company years back and accordingly they weren't to be mentioned, presume that's still the case so I haven't named them.

I don't think the individual posters take the hit, it's boards itself that they go after.

PunkIPA

I was interested in this question so did some research.

There is no reported judgment that contains the words "Boards.ie".

Using the High Court search, there is one case from 2013 as follows:-

MAHER T/A TULLYBEG GOLF CLUB -V- JOHN DOE 1 [USER NAME MRJACBAN25] & ORS 2013/393 P

A gentleman named Kevin Maher t/a Tullybeg Golf Club instituted proceedings against nine Defendants, including Boards, Youtube, Yelp, and 5 John Does identified only by usernames, one being MRJACBAN25 as above. It's not clear if the usernames are from here, Youtube, or Yelp.

The case was dropped after a few months. No pleadings or affidavits filed, no judgment.

Everything above is a matter of public record and freely searchable through the High Court search.

PunkIPA

There is a further case from 2012 as follows:-

U.S. OIL AND GAS PLC -V- BOARDS.IE LTD & ORS 2012/12062 P

The Plaintiff there sued Boards and three other corporate Defendants that look like they might be trading platforms of some description. The Plaintiff secured a disclosure Order but there was no judgment and indeed no solicitors on record for any of the Defendants.

PunkIPA

To answer your question more broadly, yes, posts on message boards can be used in defamation proceedings. The Court can also grant what's known as a Nowrich Pharmacal Order, which would compel Boards to provide the Plaintiff with information to identify the authors of defamatory posts (IP address, email, etc.).

Basically, you can't use the shield of anonymity to defame someone on here and escape the consequences.

jhegarty

There was the famous MCD case. I am sure there are still sticks on dormant forums about it.

Victor

Tails142 wrote: »

I don't think the individual posters take the hit, it's boards itself that they go after.

No, it's most likely that it's the poster that takes the hit. Mulvaney & Ors v The Sporting Exchange Ltd [2009] IEHC 133 https://www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IEHC/2009/H133.html

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I think it depends on whether or not it's a civil or not.

If it is, the plaintiff has to chase and boards.ie can make a decisions whether or not to help.

If not, the courts can force boards.ie to hand over electronic documentation and boards.ie would probably comply. Check the terms and condiions you "read" when you created your account.

GM228

Any case would be against Distilled SCH as opposed to Boards.ie and it would appear there has never been any.

PunkIPA

GM228 wrote: »

Any case would be against Distilled SCH as opposed to Boards.ie and it would appear there has never been any.

I presume that it the parent company? There is also a Boards.ie Limited who were sued in the cases mentioned above.

Distilled Media Group (a subsidiary of Distilled SCH) were sued by former Local Election candidate Mark Savage along with fourteen other Defendants, including the Gay Community News and the National LGBT Federation. Mr Savage is quite litigious so I will say no more.

GM228

PunkIPA wrote: »

I presume that it the parent company? There is also a Boards.ie Limited who were sued in the cases mentioned above.

Distilled Media Group (a subsidiary of Distilled SCH) were sued by former Local Election candidate Mark Savage along with fourteen other Defendants, including the Gay Community News and the National LGBT Federation. Mr Savage is quite litigious so I will say no more.

I believe Boards.ie Ltd (which is basically the founding members) is the minority owner, with Distilled SCH being the majority owner.

MCD also were going to sue Boards.ie Ltd over comments here about the Oxygen festival in 2006, but the case was dropped.

GM228

Here's a previous brief discussion on the matter:-

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=111042944#post111042944

and my post on the matter:-

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111042944&postcount=4

Thanks for all the replies.