Woman ordered to provide Facebook records

A Nova Scotia judge has ordered a woman hurt in a 2011 crash to produce her Facebook-use records to the parties she is suing and to the court.
Joanne Marlene Conrod had opposed a motion for a court order the defendants put forward, saying her Facebook usage wasn’t relevant to her claim.
But Justice Glen G. McDougall of Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled the defendants’ motion has merit since it addresses the fallout she has said she has experienced due to injuries she sustained in a A. Murray MacKay Bridge collision in Halifax.
Although the crash was over two years ago, Conrod “has not returned to work in any capacity and claims that her ability to participate in recreational and social activities has been compromised,” McDougall said in a decision released Tuesday.
“She complains of problems with concentration and focus that limit the time she is able to spend using websites like Facebook.”
Conrod was hurt when she was travelling toward Dartmouth and a dump truck entered her lane, hitting her vehicle, the ruling said.
She is suing truck driver David Andrew Caverley and Allterrain Contracting Ltd., the truck’s registered owner.
Conrod said she has back, neck and leg pain, and has trouble doing anything requiring the use of her arms, the judgment said. She has also described a significant erosion of her quality of life.
Aside from her Facebook history, the motion for a court order asked for a printed copy of the woman’s Facebook profile, including information and photos that she has restricted with a privacy setting only visible to her “friends,” McDougall’s decision said.
A hearing on the motion occurred in a Halifax court. It ended last October.
In his ruling, the judge said he wasn’t satisfied that producing the plaintiff’s Facebook profile would be pertinent.
“I am satisfied that the Facebook-usage data requested by the defendants is relevant to whether Ms. Conrod’s injuries have affected her ability to concentrate and the information should be produced,” his decision said.
Usage records sought by the defendants can be obtained by the woman, “and the contents will not reveal any potentially sensitive personal information about her Internet activity, such as websites she visits or private conversations she participates in,” it said.
“Any argument Ms. Conrod may wish to make that the usage records do not accurately reflect the time she spends using Facebook … is more properly made at trial.”