Portakabin seeks court orders in bid to identify sender of anonymous emails

Portakabin is seeking High Court orders directing Google to provide it with details about a Gmail account that sent allegedly defamatory messages to its customers.

Portakabin Ltd and Portakabin (Ireland) Ltd, which manufacture and supply modular buildings, sought the orders so they can identify who had in March and April last sent several messages to customers allegedly aimed at damaging their business.

Google is not opposing the application.

Mr Justice Senan Allen told counsel for Portakabin on Tuesday he had received by registered post an anonymous letter about the application, purportedly by the person behind the account.

While it is not appropriate to write to judges about cases before them, Mr Justice Allen said he should raise the correspondence in open court.

The judge said the letter author had also asked the court not to make the orders, as they would not be able to afford a solicitor.

The author partly tried to justify the postings, saying they are “a whistleblower” concerned about being identified, he said.

The author also said the account which was the subject of the proceedings “had been deleted” and gave “a 100 per cent assurance” they would not send any more communications to Portakabin’s customers.

Genuine concerns

Counsel for Portakabin asked the court to make the orders and said their clients would not characterise the messages as whistleblowing.

If the author had genuine concerns about Portakabin, they should have raised them with either the companies, or with various regulatory authorities, it was argued.

Instead, the author had sent emails which contain untrue, personalised, defamatory and negative allegations about matters, including the quality of Portakabin’s products and services, to important customers aimed at damaging Portakabin’s business and reputation, counsel said.

The plaintiffs want to pursue all remedies possible, including legal proceedings, against the person or persons behind the emails, the court was told.

Mr Justice Allen said he would give his ruling on a later date.

The Portakabin companies sought the orders against Google Ireland Ltd directing it to disclose information and data held by it associated with the particular Gmail account allegedly using a pseudonym "John Smith".

It wants Google to provide information including the address, telephone number and/or any other email address, of the holder of irishpeople2021@gmail.com.

Payment instrument

It also wants details about the payment instrument, including credit card details, used by the account holder, and the IP address and associated time stamps of the account.

Previously the court heard that Portakabin believes the emails formed part of a wider campaign dating back to October 2020, when anonymous letters were sent to its customers.

The companies believe the author of the emails and the letters are the same person or persons.

Those letters also made false claims about the company, it is claimed.

Arising out of the letters, Portakabin hired external consultants to review its procurement and business practises.

The consultants found that there was no evidence to sustain the claims made in the letters, the court was told.

An earlier version of this article said Portakabin had secured High Court orders. This has been corrected