A New York state judge has ruled that a woman's deleted postings on Facebook and MySpace must be turned over to a company fighting allegations she suffered “permanent injuries” that have prevented her from living an active lifestyle.
Last week's decision from the Supreme Court of New York's Suffolk County said that under the state's court rules, Kathleen Romano had no reasonable expectation that the information she posted to restricted parts of the social networking sites would remain private, even if she had previously deleted it. Because the postings may contradict claims she made about the injuries she sustained, they are fair game under New York's discovery procedures.
“The information sought by defendant regarding plaintiff's Facebook and MySpace accounts is both material and necessary to the defense of this action and/or could lead to admissible evidence,” Judge Jeffrey Arlen Spinner wrote. “In this regard, it appears that plaintiff's public profile page on Facebook shows her smiling happily in a photograph outside the confines of her home despite her claim that she has sustained permanent injuries and is largely confined to her house and bed.”
His order grants the defendant "access to plaintiff's current and historical Facebook and MySpace pages and accounts, including all deleted pages and related information ... in all respects."
