Curis wins identifying order for "erinG"
2012-06-18 10:51 PT - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell

Curis Resources Ltd. has won a court order directing Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. to provide information that could identify the forum poster known as "erinG," who the company claims is responsible for a series of posts that contributed to a 27-per-cent drop in its price. The order, handed down on Thursday, June 14, specifies that Stockhouse must provide the user's name, physical mailing address and other contact information, as well as the user's IP address. Stockhouse did not oppose the order, and nobody appeared on behalf of "erinG."

The order comes just two weeks after Curis filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against "erinG." According to the suit, a user with that name created messages on Stockhouse that wrongly claimed the company had been unable to obtain a water permit for its flagship Florence copper project in Arizona. The messages were "defamatory and injuriously false," according to the company.

In seeking the identifying order, Curis said that it had established a claim for defamation sufficient enough to outweigh any expectation of privacy that "erinG" may have. The user posted words that were false and were capable of lowering the company's reputation. As such, "the public interest favouring disclosure outweighs the legitimate interest of freedom of expression and the right to privacy."

Details of the "erinG" posts were included in Curis's notice of claim, which it filed at the Vancouver courthouse on May 31, 2012. The posts referred to troubles the company was having obtaining a permit from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

The first message, dated May 7, stated: "Just last week, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality rejected Curis' most recent application for an APP permit. This is their second failed attempt at securing the much needed permit from ADEQ." Another post the following day told readers that the company had missed "copious amounts of key information" when it filed the application. The post also said that a mining analyst named Brent Cook was "dumping the stock." Similar posts appeared again on May 24.

The company said that the messages were entirely false. They left readers with the mistaken impression that Curis had been twice rejected for an aquifer protection permit. The company claimed it had been "injured in its character, credit and reputation and has suffered loss and damage."

The suit sought a permanent injunction barring future posts, plus general and special damages, aggravated damages, punitive damages, and interest and court costs. Vancouver lawyer Joel Hill of Hakemi & Company filed the suit on the company's behalf.