Court again rejects request for publication ban in Facebook bullying case

<p>HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s highest court has rejected an application to extend a publication ban on allegedly defamatory comments describing a teenage girl on a phoney Facebook page.</p> <p>In an 11-page ruling, Justice Duncan Beveridge of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal also concluded he doesn’t have the authority to issue an order to protect the girl’s identity.</p> <p>In May 2010, the girl’s parents turned to the courts to find out who created the fake page, which included allegedly defamatory comments about her appearance and sexual behaviour.</p> <p>But three subsequent rulings from the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal have rejected the family’s request to protect the girl’s identity and prohibit publication of the Facebook descriptions.</p> <p>The girl’s family has decided to seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, and they have argued the previous rulings should be stayed until Canada’s highest court deals with the case.</p> <p>However, Beveridge says the applicants have presented no evidence demonstrating a potential miscarriage of justice if the requests are not granted before the existing publication ban lapses on Wednesday.</p> <p>The lawyer for the girl’s parents wasn’t immediately available for comment.</p>