ANOTHER CASE OF TWITTER PROVIDING EVIDENCE: CLAIMANT CAUGHT OFFSIDE
There is a report in the Solicitors Journal of a sentence passed today for contempt of court. It is another example of the evidence coming from twitter and shows the growing importance of social media in many types of litigation.
THE CASE
A claimant claimed he was injured. He stated he could not play football for four weeks. However he had tweeted about playing football, as a semi-professional footballer, within 24 hours of the accident. He also tweeted about scoring in the FA Trophy less than three weeks after the accident.
SOCIAL MEDIA PROVIDING THE KEY
This is another example of social media providing key evidence. The claimant had been found to be fundamentally dishonest. Proceedings were brought for contempt of court and he received a four month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
NOT THE FIRST TIME A FOOTBALLER HAS BEEN CAUGHT OFFSIDE
There are parallels here to the case of Motor Insurers Bureau –v- Shikhell [2011] EWHC 527 (QB). This was a contempt of court case where the claimant claimed he was unable to play football. However a search of his team’s website revealed that he was club captain, had played 27 matches that season (he had also been “man of the match” on several occasions).