HALIFAX—A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has approved a court order that would require a Halifax-based Internet provider to reveal the identity of a customer who posted allegedly defamatory comments about a 15-year-old girl on a fake Facebook page.
But a lawyer for the girl’s family, Jane O’Neill, told court Friday that her clients need time to decide whether they will use the order.
The problem, she said, is that the judge hearing the case, Justice Arthur LeBlanc, denied a request for an order that would ban the media from reporting the girl’s name and any details from the now defunct Facebook page.
O’Neill said the family is determined to protect the girl’s identity and limit further damage to her reputation.
As a result, the lawyer asked LeBlanc to suspend the effect of his decision until Tuesday, when the family will decide whether to appeal the judge’s rejection of the publication ban — or drop the case.
The judge agreed.
In the interim, the media are subject to a publication ban.
The girl first learned of the offensive page in March when a friend sent her a copy of the profile page.
Another lawyer for the family, Michelle Awad, has said the Facebook page included allegedly defamatory comments about the girl’s appearance and sexual conduct.
As well, she confirmed that someone used a photo of the girl to make it appear as if the social networking page was her own.
On Thursday, Awad argued that a publication ban was warranted because “an important interest” had been put at risk.
“The important interest is this 15-year-old girl and what has happened to her,” she told the court, noting media reports had already described the contents of the Facebook page in general terms. “There’s no indication from the media why they need any of these things.”
Awad said allowing the media to report the details on the page would further damage the girl’s reputation.
Lawyers for two media outlets — the Halifax Chronicle Herald and Global TV — argued that Awad had failed to meet the tests for a discretionary publication ban.
“Mere embarrassment is not enough to come before this court and ask for a publication ban,” said Nancy Rubin, lawyer for the Herald.
As well, the lawyers said Awad had failed to provide evidence that the girl had been harmed by the allegedly defamatory statements.
“Without evidence, you have no jurisdiction,” Global TV lawyer Alan Parish told the judge.
In his decision Friday, LeBlanc said he agreed that Awad had failed to show that the girl had been harmed.
“I am not convinced that the granting of the ban would be beneficial for the applicant,” LeBlanc said.
Outside the court, Parish, said the judge’s initial decision spoke to the need to keep the courts open to the public and the media.
“If courts become sacred, if things happen without public knowledge, things tend to go off the rails and we get decisions that we don’t like to see,” he said.
Officials with California-based Facebook Inc. have already given Awad the numerical Internet address assigned to the computer used to create the account.
But the family needs to get a name or names from the Internet provider, Eastlink Inc., before they can proceed with a defamation case.
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