Facebook used in Canadian personal injury cases
EVIDENCE from the popular online site Facebook has been used in at least three recent personal injury cases in Canada.
Myla Bagasbas, from Vancouver, lost her claim for $40,000 in personal injury damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment after the defendents produced photos from her Facebook profile that showed her kayaking, hiking and cycling following the accident.
In a precedent-setting case earlier this year, Toronto judge Justice David Brown ordered that a man suing for personal injury in a car accident should be cross-examined about the contents of his private Facebook profile, overturning a previous court decision that labelled the defendant’s search for incriminating evidence a “fishing expedition”.
In another case, in Murphy versus Perger, Ontario Superior Court Justice Helen Rady ordered the plaintiff, who was suing for claims of personal injury and loss of enjoyment of life following a car accident, should produce copies of her Facebook pages containing photos of her engaging in social activities, writing in the judgment: “The plaintiff could not have a serious expectation of privacy given that 366 people have been granted access to the private site.”
The use of social media, particularly by defendents in personal injury cases, led Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in ethics, law and technology at the University of Ottawa to comment: “Facebook will be seen as a gold mine for evidence in court cases. The courts sometimes don’t get it. The tendency in judicial opinion and popular thinking is that once something is out in the public, there’s no such thing as privacy anymore.”