News: Northern Ireland and the mystery of the missing Defamation Act

As we noted in March, the Defamation Act 2013 will not extend to Northern Ireland. This is slightly surprising. In contrast to Scotland – where the law of defamation has never been the same as in England – the law in Northern Ireland has always, been in all relevant respects, identical to that in England in Wales (see Olivia O’Kane’s post here). Why then has the Northern Ireland Executive not passed a “legislative consent motion” to extend the Defamation Act to the province?

Case law, Northern Ireland, HL (a minor) v Facebook, How can the courts manage the Facebook phenomenon? – Rosalind English

HL (A Minor) v Facebook Incorporated, The Northern Health and Social Care Trust, The Department of Justice for Northern Ireland and others  [2013] NIQB 25.  In this somewhat chaotic action, the plaintiff sued ten defendants, in anonymised form by her father and next friend.  

News: Scotland, and Northern Ireland and the Defamation Bill

The Defamation Bill is presently in a twilight zone between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It is being held up by the presence of the so-called “Puttnam Amendment” (clause 2). This problem is likely to be resolved today with cross-party agreement on the implementation of Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations. If that happens the “Puttnam amendments” will be removed from the bill. It will then be free to complete its Parliamentary stages and come into law this Parliamentary session. A blog post by Patrick Kane has drawn our attention to another issue: the application of the Bill to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Case Law, Northern Ireland, AB Ltd v Facebook Ireland, Libel damages for anonymous posts

On 6 February 2013 Mr Justice McCloskey in the High Court of Northern Ireland handed down judgment in the case of AB Ltd and Ors v Facebook Ireland Ltd ([2013] NIQB 14).  We had a post about this decision on 9 February 2013.  The case concerned what the judge described as a “campaign of public vilification and harassment of the second, third and fourth named plaintiffs by way of publications made upon the Facebook website.” [5]  The full judgment is now available. 

News: Northern Ireland Judge awards £35,000 damages for anonymous Facebook libels

On 6 February 2013, in the High Court in Belfast, Mr Justice McCloskey awarded libel damages against an unidentified anonymous individual who abused two directors and a member of staff at a Belfast company.  The plaintiffs’ claim against Facebook Ireland Limited was dismissed.

Northern Ireland Defamation Cases, numbers decline – Olivia O’Kane

The recent changes in the media landscape have no doubt had an impact for libel lawyers in Northern Ireland.  As advertising cuts continue to be made and the Leveson culture has exerted pressure on journalistic practice, the media are no doubt trying to resolve disputes in advance of legal proceedings being issued.  Legal Aid is not available to libel claimants and conditional fee agreements and after the event insurance is not available in Northern Ireland, which also has an effect on the volume of this type of legal work.

Case Law, Northern Ireland, XY v Facebook Ireland, Judge strikes down Facebook page “Keeping our Kids Safe From Predators” – Rosalind English

The fascinating case of X v Facebook Ireland Ltd ([2012]  NIQB 96)  comes to light in the midst of general astonishment at the minimal attention paid in the Leveson Report to the  ”wild west” of the internet and the question of social media regulation.

This short  judgement demonstrates that a careful step by step judicial approach – with the cooperation of the defendant of course – may be the route to a range of common law tools that protect individuals from the internet’s incursions in a way which no rigidly formulated statute is capable of doing.

News: Northern Ireland Court Orders Facebook to take down “Paedophile Watch” page

The Northern Ireland High Court has ordered Facebook to take down a page entitled “Keeping our kids safe from predators” on an application made by a convicted sex offender. The claimant, who was anonymised and known only as XY, was given a six year jail sentence for a child sex offence more than 20 years ago.  He claimed that material published on the page constituted  harassment, breach of privacy, and misuse of his private information.

News: Northern Ireland judge orders Facebook to identify account holders

On Friday 17 August 2012 the High Court in Belfast ordered Facebook to identify anonymous account holders anonymous posters responsible for abusive messages about a Belfast company and three of its  employees.   Mr Justice Weatherup also made an order anonymising the claimants on the basis that identification would only draw more public attention to them.

The Judge was told that the series of abusive messages attacking the Northern Ireland company had been posted on Facebook over several months, by people using pseudonyms.  The claimants had been unable to find out who was sending the messages.

Case Law, Northern Ireland: King v Sunday Newspapers – Privacy, Costs and the County Court

The case of King v Sunday Newspapers has been the subject of five judgments in the Courts in Northern Ireland.  In the latest, and apparently, last chapter in this long saga, the Court of Appeal has overturned the first instance judge’s ruling on costs, holding that because of the “complexity and novelty of the litigation” costs should be awarded on the High Court scale.