British Columbia woman loses lawsuit claiming her ex shared nude photos of her | iNFOnews

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02 June 2024 – 7:00 a.m.

A British Columbia woman has lost a lawsuit against her former partner, whom she accused of distributing nude photos of her that he took during a massage.

In only the second case under the province's new intimate image protection law, the court concluded that the woman had not proven that the images were shared or that her former partner had threatened to share them.

Earlier this year, the province passed new laws that allow victims whose intimate images have been shared to go to the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal to have the images removed and seek up to $5,000 in compensation. The law also allows the tribunal to order internet companies to remove the images.

The aim of this move was to streamline the justice system, in addition to existing criminal and civil options, and to allow victims to file complaints online, in the same way that the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal handles hearings in small claims and condominium disputes.

In the tribunal's first case in April, a lone offender was ordered to pay a victim $5,000 after it emerged that he had shared intimate images dating back several years between the two, who had never met, and a “flirtatious” chat on Twitter.

In the current case, the couple lived together and had at least one child together.

The BC Civil Resolution Tribunal's May 29 decision states that AB (all names are initialed in the decision) took five videos and 16 photographs of his partner while he was giving her a massage and she was naked sometime between June 2023 and February 2024. He took the videos and photographs without her consent, the decision states.

AB accused her partner of sharing the images with “at least” one colleague and one friend. She also said the image was transferred to her child's iPad via the cloud.

He admitted taking the pictures without her consent, but said he deleted them the day they were taken when she found out about them. He denied sharing them with anyone.

AB said her partner shared the images via WhatsApp but did not provide any screenshots or other evidence to the tribunal.

She submitted a written statement from a close friend in which he stated that her partner “treated women badly” and once sent a threatening text message to an ex-girlfriend.

However, the court found that none of the evidence presented suggested that AB's former partner had shared intimate images.

AB also said the images were shared via “the cloud.” She presented a photo of an iPhone with images of her on the screen.

However, the court ruled that there was no explanation as to whose phone it was and that the photos appeared in the Notes app with no explanation as to why this was so.

The court rejected further evidence presented by AB in the form of letters from several medical, nursing and support service providers. The court said that while the letters showed that AB received support, none of the letters stated that her former partner had shared or threatened to share intimate images of her.

Ultimately, the court ruled that she had failed to prove that her former partner had either threatened to share the images or had shared the images and dismissed the case.

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