| | | Verde seeks order to identify Stockhouse users
2015-03-11 12:21 ET - Street Wire
Shares issued 37,617,430
NPK Close 2015-03-10 C$ 0.43
by Mike Caswell
Verde Potash PLC has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Stockhouse Publishing Ltd., seeking identifying information for the authors of a series of defamatory posts. Among other things the posts called Verde "a huge fraud" and said that the company's chief executive officer was guilty of misconduct. The company is asking for a court order that would instruct Stockhouse to release data on the users, with the data to include their IP addresses.
Verde's request is contained in a petition the company filed at the Vancouver courthouse on Tuesday, March 10. The company, which is developing potash projects in Brazil, complains about a series of messages that users named "Brazilian" and "brazilinvestor1" posted starting on Feb. 4, 2014. The messages mostly targeted the company and its CEO, Cristiano Veloso.
 | | VERDE POTASH | | Cristiano Veloso |
The posts, as quoted in the petition, called Verde a "house of cards" that had collapsed, and said it was not trusted in the area of Brazil where it worked. One message claimed that public opinion in the region is that the company "is a huge fraud." Other messages targeted the company's CEO, claiming that he is "deluding" those who listen to him and that he was guilty of misconduct. The posts also said that the company was insolvent and lacked the capacity to make payments in Brazil.
As Verde sees it, the messages are false and defamatory. The company asked Stockhouse to remove the postings, which it has since done. The site refused to release any information about account holders without a court order (and a fee of $200), however. Verde is asking that the courts enter such an order, as it has no other way to identify the authors of the posts.
Vancouver lawyer Daniel Reid of Harper Grey LLP filed the petition on behalf of Verde. A judge will hear the matter on Thursday, March 12. Verde closed at 43 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange Tuesday, up 1.5 cents. |
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