2017 July 18

Carleton Condominium Corp. No. 282 v. Yahoo! Inc., 2017 ONSC 4385

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted a Norwich order requiring Yahoo! Inc. and Yahoo! Canada Inc. to disclose to the plaintiff information it claimed was necessary to obtain the identity of the author of allegedly defamatory emails sent to owners and occupants of the plaintiff condominium corporation.  The emails were sent by an individual using the pseudonym “Ian Fleming,” the author of the James Bond novels.  In granting the order, the court relied on s. 96(1) of the Courts of Justice Act, RSO 1990, c. C43 and GEA Group AG v Flex-N-Gate Corporation, 2009 ONCA 619 at paragraph 71.  The court noted that Yahoo! and Yahoo! Canada “are communication service companies who provide web-based email services.  Without Yahoo!’s email services, ‘Ian Fleming’ could not have written and sent the anonymous emails to the owners and occupants…”  Although the plaintiff “does not allege that [they] are implicated in or liable for the wrongful acts of the originator of the emails, they are involved in the wrongful acts and are more than mere witnesses.”  The Court in this case did not find it necessary to require that the originator of the emails be given notice of this application by Yahoo! or Yahoo! Canada.