Ontario Court rules Injured person must disclose information and pictures from his "private" Facebook Account

On February 20, 2009, a judge in the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice ruled that a person involved in a personal injury lawsuit had to provide the lawyers for the insurance company with copies of in infomation and photographs on his "private" Facebook account.

The case is Leduc v. Roman, [2009] and you can read it by clicking here. Mr. Leduc was injured in a car accident personal injury case and the request for the Facebook information came during the discovery phase of the case.

The judge noted that lawyers representing injured persons should advise them of the obligation to disclose electronic information and photographs from social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace or other online sites such as blogs, message boards, etc.

Insurance companies what this information to see if the injured person is doing things they say the can't do. In other words is the person as disabled as they say they are. People involved in lawsuit should not discuss the case online or in social networking websites as this information is not private. In particular you should never discuss conversations you have had with your lawyer -- this applies whether you are the injured person who has brough the lawsuit (the Plaintiff) or if you are the person who is being sued (the Defendant).

At the present time, no judge has ordered the production of Facebook information in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick; however, it is highly likely that judges in these provinces would follow the Leduc v. Roman and order the injured person to produce copies of this type of information.