Operators behind two warring social media pages set to go to trial in the District Court

A Sunshine Coast couple caught up in an ugly Facebook war involving a series of alleged defamatory comments are expected to go to trial later this year.

Rona Sanchez and her husband Louis Phillipe are involved in the social media war. Photo: Cade Mooney Sunshine Coast Daily

A District Court judge has thrown out an aggravated damage claim relating to a series of alleged defamatory social media comments involving two warring caravanning pages.

Tracey Leigh first bought civil legal action against Louis Phillipe and Rona Sanchez, of the Sunshine Coast, in 2018, seeking damages totalling to $280,000 over a series of comments posted on social media groups.

According to documents from District Court proceedings last month, Ms Leigh claimed a further $180,000 for aggravated damages, due to the couple allegedly continuing to post comments after they were ordered to stop.

The feud is between the operators of two Facebook pages, “Lemon Caravans & RVs in Aus” operated by Ms Leigh and “Shonky Caravan-Builders Dealers Around Australia” operated by Mr and Ms Sanchez.

According to the court documents Ms Leigh described herself as an “advocate for consumer rights” in relation to caravans.

The administrators of the Shonky page allegedly posted 28 items that included defamatory matter, according to the court documents.

“The gravamen of the SOC (statement of claim) is that the defendants published matter imputing that Ms Leigh was making dishonest use of her Facebook page and her advocacy activities for her own benefit,” the documents stated.

“There are also numerous imputations alleged which accompany that core complaint: that Ms Leigh is dishonest, a tax cheat, a liar, and other abusive imputations.”

The court documents stated both Mr and Ms Sanchez agreed to stop posting defamatory comments about Ms Leigh in March 2019, however they went on to break this multiple times resulting in a breach of the court undertaking.

By 2023, it is alleged the posts about Ms Leigh escalated and she took out an interim violence order against the defendant, Mr Sanchez.

Mr and Ms Sanchez argued the allegations be struck out due to them not being in control of the comments made by others on the page, while contesting the comments were defamatory.

District Court judge Bernard Porter said the closed nature of the Facebook group where the alleged defamatory comments were posted also complicated Ms Leigh’s claim for aggravated damages.

Mr Porter ultimately struck out Ms Leigh’s claims.

The initial defamation matter is listed for trial in December.