In a recent decision released in March 2013, former university professor Denis Rancourt, who is a defendant in a defamation claim by University of Ottawa law professor Joanne St. Lewis, was ordered by the court to disclose his Facebook “friends” and Twitter “followers” lists to the plaintiff, Professor St. Lewis.
Professor St. Lewis, a law professor at the University of Ottawa specializing in race relations and social equity issues, had prepared a report at the request of the university. In her report, she found there was no systemic racism at the university. Rancourt published a blog post that was extremely critical of Professor St. Lewis’ findings and, in doing so, unfortunately used a racial slur against her.
Professor St. Lewis commenced a defamation claim against Rancourt. During the litigation, her lawyer requested that Rancourt produce a list of the Facebook friends belonging to a Facebook group that Rancourt administered, where he had posted the blog post at issue. A list of the defendant’s Twitter followers was also requested. Rancourt refused to disclose his Facebook friends list on the basis that it was not relevant to the action.
Professor St. Lewis argued that the information was relevant to assessing her damages, as it would allow her to evaluate how the community received Rancourt’s comments and the scope of dissemination of his blog post. The court agreed with Professor St. Lewis, ordering Rancourt to provide a list of his 402 Facebook friends who would have had access to messages he posted about her and the defamation action. The court also required him to produce a list of his Twitter followers, who would have seen his comments about St. Lewis.
The court found that these lists were relevant and went directly to the issues of the defendant’s malice and the potential harm and damage to Professor St. Lewis’ reputation.
This decision illustrates the complexities associated with managing and producing electronic information and documents in civil litigation. It underscores that courts will not hesitate to order parties to disclose Facebook and other social media information when it is relevant to the matters under dispute.