A MOTORCYCLE parts dealer has settled a High Court action against social networking site Bebo for allegedly allowing his name to be used to post defamatory comments about a biking champion who was killed in a racing incident.
Derek Traynor, who operates a web-based spare parts and accessories business, claims Bebo wrongfully allowed defamatory comments to be published on a site dedicated to Dublin man Martin Finnegan, who died at the Tandragee 100 race meeting in Armagh in May 2008.
The comments were allegedly posted for eight days almost immediately after Mr Finnegan’s death.
Mr Traynor, Clonross, Drumree, Co Meath, claims the comments, posted by somebody using his name, appeared to mean he took pleasure in the death of Mr Finnegan, using highly derogatory language about somebody who died in tragic circumstances.
Bebo, with registered offices in San Francisco, US, had denied the claims. Its security department told Mr Traynor shortly after the comments went up it could only release details of who posted them if it was subject to a court order or official Garda request.
The High Court heard yesterday there had been a settlement between the sides under terms of an application by Mr Traynor for better discovery of documents.
Mr Traynor had sought, under that application, an order for Bebo to disclose the identity of people responsible for authoring the alleged defamatory statements, and the ISP (internet service provider) addresses of those people.
In his statement of claim, Mr Traynor said he was involved in motorcycle racing and would be clearly understood and reasonably presumed to be the person responsible for posting messages with the user name “DerekTraynor”.
He claimed the messages were published on two “fan sites” for the late Mr Finnegan between May 4th and 11th, 2008.
He said he was not the author of those messages and did not have a Bebo account until May 5th, 2008, when he set one up to correct the “defamatory impression” given by the messages. He was appalled anyone would make such comments.
He had great respect for Mr Finnegan, against whom he had also competed, he wrote.
Although Howth Garda station had, at his request, put in an official request to have gardaí provided with the identity of the poster of the message, he was not supplied with that information.
He claimed Bebo failed to remove the messages with due expedition, despite his requests, and acted negligently by refusing or failing to publish any disclaimer about their truth or accuracy.
He was victim “of a most serious wrongdoing” and had no means of discovering who was responsible for it. He claimed Bebo failed to exercise any reasonable care over the posting of the messages and sought damages for defamation and breach of duty.