Ontario Court Orders Disclosure of Chat Site Information

In an interlocutory proceeding in Warman v Fournier, Justice Kershman of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Court) has ordered the operators of the Free Dominion chat site, Connie and Mark Fournier, to disclose information about eight anonymous posters. Richard Warman, a human rights lawyer, is suing the Fourniers for libel based on their failure to remove certain posts by the anonymous posters after he complained. The information was sought under rule 30 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure as part of documentary discovery, and includes e-mail and IP addresses for the eight posters. The Fourniers argued that the posters had an expectation of anonymity and that the information was not discoverable unless Warman established a prima facie case of libel, relying on the Court's decision in Irwin Toy Ltd v Doe, [2000] OJ No 3318 (Sup Ct J). The Court distinguished the Irwin Toy case on the basis that the information in that case was held by a non-party whereas in the Warman case it is a party to the action which is alleged to have possession of the information. Instead, the Court followed a more recent case, R v Wilson, [2009] OJ No 1067 (Sup Ct J), involving disclosure of subscriber information to police by a non-party ISP. In that case, as in another case reported in E-TIPS® ("Ontario Court Sanctions ISP's Release of Subscriber Information to the RCMP," Vol 7, No 7, September 24, 2008), the terms of subscriber agreements warning of possible disclosure of subscriber information to authorities were important factors. However, there was no discussion of this issue in the Warman case itself. The Fourniers have stated that they intend to appeal, subject to being able to raise enough money to finance the appeal. For the full reasons for judgment in the Warman case, see: http://www.freedominion.com.pa/images/motion_decision.pdf For a related news story, visit: http://tinyurl.com/davyvx Summary by: Tom Feather