Online content and potential legal liability

Senior Solicitor Director Paul Baker addresses and explains a recent member warning in the October edition of the NSW Guild Bulletin regarding legal liability issues that may potentially flow from content posted on on-line website communication forums.

Post on AusPharmList

I have been reading with particular interest the postings following the member

warning on page 4 of the October edition of the NSW Guild Bulletin regarding

legal liability issues that may potentially flow from content posted on on-line

website communication forums.

As a lawyer to the pharmacy profession, it is important that you all are aware

of potential areas of legal liability exposure. I in fact drafted that warning for

the Pharmacy Guild such was the level of my concern about content which was

clearly defamatory in various instances over recent times. I should indicate

that I was not referring to postings on this site but nevertheless, the same

level of care needs to be taken when espousing views about various matters

and other individuals. As such, I felt it was incumbent on me to effectively

adopt a risk management approach by seeking to counsel the profession about

the importance of taking care in what is being printed. Please be rest assured

that it was not an attempt to stifle comment but in contradistinction, simply a

risk management approach. I also thought it was incumbent on me to raise

potential problems that might arise with insurance coverage if legal action was

to result from a posting. Hope that clarifies things on this front.

 

Regards

Paul Baker,

Senior Solicitor, Director

Guild Lawyers

 

Response from Moderator

 

Many thanks Paul, for this clarification.

'Listers should also know that AusPharm was in touch with our friends at the

Guild as soon as this form of words first appeared, in the Queensland Guild

Member's Bulletin. We subsequently sought a formal response from

Pharmaceutical Defense Ltd as to its content and passed this on to everyone

on September 16 (here).

 

So, one last time, please be careful what you say on AusPharmList as all of the

usual laws relating to slander, libel etc apply here as they do anywhere. To a

significant degree this is why we 'moderate' the 'list - to minimise the chance

of legal action being instituted against people posting and against ourselves

as, almost certainly, AusPharm would be 'joined' to any action taken against a

'lister.

 

Here at AusPharm we are completely satisfied with Paul's comments above

that this was 'not an attempt to stifle comment'.

Thanks again to Paul and to Guild Lawyers for the clarification.

 

Mark Dunn

AusPharm