A motorcycle parts dealer has settled a High Court action against social networking site Bebo for allegedly allowing his name to be used on a website to post defamatory comments about a biking champion killed in a racing accident.
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 the 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, Meath, claims the comments, posted by somebody using his name, meant he took pleasure in the death of Mr Finnegan using highly derogatory language about somebody who died in tragic circumstances.
Bebo Incorporated, with registered offices in San Francisco, USA, had denied the claims. Its security department told Mr Traynor shortly after the comments went up it could only release details of who posted the messages if it was subject to a court order or official request from the gardaí.
The High Court today heard there had been a settlement between the sides under the terms of an application by Mr Traynor for better discovery of documents related to the case.
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 the ISP (internet service provider) address of those people.
In his statement of claim, Mr Traynor said he is involved in the motorcycling road racing sport and would be clearly understood and reasonably presumed to be the person responsible for posting messages with the username "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 he set up one in order to correct the "defamatory impression" given by the messages.
He was appalled anyone would make such comments and he had great respect for Mr Finnegan, who he had also competed against, he wrote.
Although Howth Garda Station had, at his request, put in an official request to have gardai 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 for it to do so 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, due to the circumstances surrounding the publication of the alleged defamation, had no means of discovering who was originally 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.