Donal Blaney has apparently taken legal action by posting this link to Twitter in reply to a second, allegedly fake “Donal Blaney” Twitter account. As you will see if you click it, however, the link actually goes to this entry on his blog. So does a further bit.ly link he posted. The post does not contain either the court order, neither does it link to it – one link goes to his law firm’s homepage, and a press release patting themselves on the back, and another goes to his brief’s homepage, which makes no mention of the case entirely.
I am not a lawyer – but I’m struggling to see how this constitutes service of anything. And if I was Donal Blaney, I’d try to make sure I got these things entirely right. I know at least one barrister reads this; can you comment?
Also, I was keen to read the order. The HM Courts Service Web site referred me to the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, but somehow, this historic case is not in their database. Not here either. The privatised holders of the registry of judgments couldn’t find Blaney vs Persons Unknown either. And I can’t find it on the cause list either, but then, the HMCS Web site doesn’t archive cause lists and it could have been on an earlier one.
So I rang up the Royal Courts of Justice, and strangely enough, they were unable to find such an application either. Our law reporting system clearly needs the MySociety touch.
Update: Having taken expert advice, I called the Royal Courts of Justice this morning and asked when the return hearing associated with his ex parte application was. This appears to be a useful tip in navigating judicial information.
The facts are as follows: Blaney’s application was heard on the 1st October before Mr. Justice Lewison and was granted, with a return date set for the 8th October. However, the order itself, though granted, was yet to be issued as at 1000 today.
How it can have been served on Thursday if it had not been issued by the following Monday is beyond me, but then I’m not a lawyer. One explanation might be that a close reading of Blaney’s posts suggests that he may not be claiming to have served at all, but only that the order could be served by Twitter. Meanwhile, he’s declaring victory, although the offending Twitter feed still exists and the order is neither issued nor served.
I went ex parte. It is reported on Lawtel.
Paranoid, much, Mr Ranter?
Sorry to disappoint you again, old boy. The order was served at 6.30pm on Saturday and has been complied with. No claim has yet been issued. But as you say: you are not a lawyer so I can forgive your ignorance.
It was not. I take the registry of the RCJ’s word over yours, sunshine.
Further, it has not been complied with – the offending twitter feed is still there.
The order was discharged by Mr Justice Floyd today at 2pm.
And as I have the order and know what is in it and you do not I am not sure how you can possibly say it has not been complied with when it actually has been.
But hey: why let the facts get in the way of a paranoid rant!
Still there, and still using your identity and photograph. As your position appears to be that this constitutes a violation of your intellectual property rights, the only conclusion one can draw is that the violation continues.
Unless you’re charging a royalty for the right to pretend to be you? How much is it?
Looks as though you are about to look like a complete fool, Alex, then 🙂
How remarkable – they weren’t scared by the majesty of the law, but they shut down in time to let you win a comments thread. Such troublesome people.