Your facebook is my evidence

Dan from All About Information posted on an interesting Ontario case:

On February 20th, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted leave to cross-examine a plaintiff in a motor vehicle accident suit about the nature of content he posted on his Facebook profile.

If defence of a claim for compensatory damages for loss of enjoyment of life, the defendant sought production of all content in the plaintiff’s Facebook. It did not examine the plaintiff on whether he had any photographs revealing of his post-accident lifestyle in oral discoveries, but learned of his Facebook’s existence after discovery and developed a theory that it would contain such photos.

As Dan states in his post a party should ordinarily be granted a right to cross-examine on an affidavit of documents where it does not have a right of discovery (as in Simplified Rules actions) when a plaintiff who makes a claim that puts his or her lifestyle in issue produces “few or no documents” from his or her Facebook.

The challenge to individuals who value the openness that technology provides to our lives is that your life is open. Take responsibility. Be accountable. Your life is an open book, because you make it that way. Live with integrity.

This is not a personal statement about the parties in any litigation, but rather a statement about the information economy in which we live.