By NOEL MURPHY
CITY Hall has threatened to sue a woman for defamation over complaints about a staffer she tried to help find an unclaimed dog microchipped with her name.
The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had complained about the unnamed City officer on Facebook.
Harwood Andrews lawyers then served her with a warning, claiming her post could “harm the council’s reputation and/or irreparably damage the officer’s personal reputation”.
The woman said the officer phoned her about the dog whose microchipping paperwork included her contact details.
“When I asked for the chip number to try to help get the animal back to its rightful owner I was told that because I had told (the officer) I was not the owner no details could be given. This seems a ridiculous attitude, since they obviously have no other number to contact.
“The (officer) who phoned me clearly had no intention of trying to find the correct owner. And, frankly, the attitude I was given when offering to check our sale records to see if I could help reunite dog and owner made me fear for this animal’s life.”
The woman posted on Facebook that anyone who had lost a dog should phone the city’s dog catcher and included a contact number.
Harwood Andrews wrote that it was instructed the woman had “yelled profanities at the officer and made disparaging remarks both about her ability to do her job and about her personally”.
It claimed she made further disparaging remarks on Facebook and said the officer received various phone calls from others after hours and was subjected to harmful comments on Facebook.
A City spokesperson said some earlier posts had “resulted in other posts being placed on Facebook containing the staff member’s name and mobile telephone numbers”.
“As a result the staff member received numerous abusive telephone calls as well as harmful comments on Facebook.
“The officer had followed normal procedure and ensured that there were no breaches of the Privacy Act. Every endeavour was made to reunite the dog with its owner, which occurred the following day.”
Cr Kylie Fisher said the legal letter seemed “very heavy handed” but “quite a lot of posts” were made to Facebook that were “very degrading”.
