Recent Facebook Discovery Decision Out of York County

Another Facebook decision has been brought to my attention.....this one out of York County.

In his November 4, 2013 decision in the case of Hunter v. PRRC, Inc., No. 2010-SU-3400-71 (C.P. York   Linebaugh, P.J. ), President Judge Stephen P. Linebaugh ruled that a defendant must meet a threshold showing of relevant information on a Plaintiff's public social media/Facebook pages before access to the private pages of the site would be allowed.  There must be a showing of a reasonable probability that relevant information will be also found on the private pages of the site.

The court also noted that a Plaintiff also retained the right to request a protective order if the allowance of the discovery would cause unreasonable annoyance, embarrassment, etc. under Pa.R.C.P. 4012.

In this case, the court ultimately ruled that the defense had not met the threshold showing and, as such, the motion to compel was denied.

Anyone wishing to review this decision may click this LINK.

I send thanks to Attorney Maggie Grab of the law firm of Griffith, Strickler, Lerman, Solymos, and Calkins for bringing this decision to my attention.