A federal judge involved in a case accusing an adult night club of improperly using a group of professional models’ photographs for promotional purposes, has reassessed the plaintiffs’ stand. The judge has now certified a query in relevance to discovery rule information linked to publicly posted content on social media platforms, to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for consideration. This poses a matter of first impression for the high court. The question posed is, “Under what circumstances, if any, is material publicly posted to social media platforms ‘inherently unknowable’ for purposes of applying the discovery rule in the context of defamation, right of publicity, right to privacy, and related tort claims?”
The judge, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, noted that the correct application of the discovery rule is vital to all the state law claims in the case at hand. He postulated that if the discovery rule defers the statute of limitations, the state claims sustain. However, if not, the claims are time-barred. Further, according to Judge Gorton, this ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court will essentially guide this Court regarding whether laches bars the two federal law claims.
As modern society grapples with the rarely treaded intersections of law and social media, this Massachusetts court case and subsequent ruling might set a consequential precedent for handling matters related to online privacy and defamation laws. For further information on the ongoing case, please click here.