Image courtesy of Googliath.org

A woman from Adelaide, Dr. Duffy sued internet giant Google for calumny on a material posted on a website in 2007. She has gotten a partial victory on the matter that will continue to another trial at the South Australia Supreme Court.

An Australian academic, Dr. Janice Duffy has won a court ruling in her favor after a Judge found Google guilty of defaming her through its auto-complete, hyperlinks and search engine result.

Credit- GoFundMe
Dr. Janice Duffy

The former health researcher has been seeking justice on the matter for six years running after she claimed that a material posted in 2007 on the “Ripoff Report” defamed her character.

She claimed it has caused her psychological and financial damage as any would-be future employer would make use of Google search engine to know more about her, and this has left her unemployable.

She also claimed that Google gradually removed the material from their search engine after filing a civil proceeding against the company in 2011.

On their part, Google denied any knowledge of such publications. The internet giant also denied receiving any request from her to pull off the material from the search engine.

When the Judge ruled that defamatory materials concerning her were published by Google, she burst into emotions and wept in court. When she told the court that she needed more time to prepare for the trial as she was exhausted from the proceedings, she also broke down emotionally.

Justice Malcolm Blue, in his 144 – page judgment struck out most of the defenses put up by the counsel to Google. The Judge found out that the hyperlinks and auto-complete results either directed, published or republished a considerable number of internet users towards calumny comments.

The judge also ruled that the case will proceed to further trial to resolve the other issues at the South Australian Supreme Court.

The judge further stated that it would be necessary to proceed to trial on the other remaining issues that are time limitation and defense of triviality, the quantum of damages and causation, and the application for extension of time.

Dr. Duffy said she had no other choice than to file a complaint in court. She said she was not interested in a legal battle, and all she wanted from the onset was for the material to be taken down. She has remained jobless ever since and was forced to leave her health job in South Australia when her colleagues saw the defamatory material on Ripoff Report.

The post Legal Battle Between Internet Giant Google And Australian Academic Dr. Janice Duffy appeared first on NIR News / National Investigative Report.

When what you need is ‘Straight Talk’ and not legal jargon that you will never be able to understand without full and detailed explanations every step of the way, where do you turn? Do you open up the phone book and throw a dart? Do you simply go off of the word of mouth from friends and relatives? Honestly, neither of these are good options. A legal representative that worked well for someone else may not work for you and your situation. Research is going to be your best option when it comes to a legal representative that will be able to represent you. This is especially true when it comes to family law, business law, and real estate disputes.

Here are some helpful items to look for in a Law Group:

* Free consultation: A firm that offers a 30 to 60-minute free consultation is obviously
vested in their clients. This gives the legal representative time to hear your point of view,
possibly review documentation and governing laws, and discuss with you what exactly the
options would be. From this free consultation, you will be able to make an educated
decision on whether or not the firm is a good fit for you and vice versa.

* Encourage Electronic Usage: There are plenty of firms that encourage correspondence
through forms of electronic measures instead of coming to the office every other day to
discuss something in person that could have been sent in an email. This saves money and
in turn shows you that the potential legal representative is concerned with your financial
health as well.

* Mediation versus Litigation: Not every case needs to go to court. This is not a new
realization for most legal representatives. Entertain the idea of meeting with legal
representatives that use mediation and collaborative law in your financial favor. They are
doing it to keep you out of court, keep your financial burdens low, and assist in closing the
case sooner rather than later. This is especially true if the outcome will be the same
regardless of going to court or not.

The post Three Points To Consider When Choosing A Law Group appeared first on NIR News / National Investigative Report.