Paulo's Stra'ven Group legal action

In the morning of 29th August 2015 a local resident of Strathaven published an inoffensive  post on the Strathaven Group (Facebook) expressing her feelings regarding the very controversial sale of the former John Hastie Museum by South Lanarkshire Council. (As you probably know, the museum - and the park - had originally been gifted to the town by John Hastie about a century ago).

Her post was followed by many comments, which included questions related to the sale of the museum, its legality and the circumstances of the sale.

On the 30th August, as one of the Strathaven Group moderators, I received a call on my ex-directory phone from the CEO of the building company who originally bought the building. He demanded that I deleted ‘offensive’ posts but, as he would not tell me exactly which posts he was referring to, I refused to delete any despite his threat of legal action, on grounds that local residents should have the right to openly discuss matters that are important to them and the town. More details can be found on the Herald and Evening Times

This was followed some time later by a writ asking for £20,000 damages. Although the pursuer has now offered to drop the charges if I just apologise, I’ve been left with a legal defence bill for £1,425 so far. As many local residents and Strathaven Group members are asking me not to apologise, I could apply for Legal Aid at a further cost of around £250/£300 and defend the case in court to the end (so, a total of about £1725). I believe this is vital to protect the voices of our community and communities across Scotland.

I can’t receive any further legal advice until the bill for £1424.60 is paid.

Many people on the Strathaven Group and Strathaven in general have pledged donations towards my defence legal bills so I have created this page on ‘GoFundMe', have a bank account solely for receiving the funds (so I’ll be able to publish statements) and have also created a Facebook group so that people who donate can discuss what happens to the money if there is an overfunding, Legal Aid or any other possible events - if they wish. I can also publish public documents related to this case there.

The legal bill needs to be paid fairly quickly so I’m aiming at reaching the target within 30 days (by the end of July 2016).

A positive outcome is that the case is already making waves - Scottish PEN have been campaigning with the  Herald   and other partners for a reform of Scottish defamation law since November last year and are working closely with me to ensure this case can be used to call for nationwide reform before it happens to anyone else. 

This is not a threat for Strathaven alone - as the law stands right now, without reform, communities, social media users, bloggers, Facebook group or page admin/moderators, politicians, forum moderators, private and voluntary organisations, journalists and civil society across Scotland are under threat from legal action that can silence them. Strathaven is now a catalyst that may lead to a reform of the law in Scotland (this law has already been changed in England and Wales)

Thank you very much for your support and for helping protect freedom of speech.

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