Google managed to get a court in Mexico City to allow it to post a bond of almost 400 million pesos and not the total of 5,000 million pesos that a sentence in favor of the Mexican requires. Ulrich Richter Morales which was to be settled today.
Permission was granted this morning by the Eighth Civil Chamber of Mexico City for a period of 6 months, in which Richter’s legal fight against Google resolved in the Supreme Court. “We confirm that, as part of our defense in the case for moral damages against Google, we have obtained the suspension of the execution of the judgment,” a company spokesperson said in response to a request for comment for this article.
In June 2022 Google was sentenced to pay 5,000 million pesos Richter Morales for non-pecuniary damage and damages caused to him by a blog hosted on a company service in which lies and negative comments against Richter and his wife were disseminated.
The judicial fight began in 2015, when Richter sued the technology company based in California, United States, for its responsibility in the hosting and dissemination of the blog on the Blogger service, a platform that allows anyone to create a publicly accessible blog on the Internet.
The case is so relevant and transcendent that it will have its final sentence in the Supreme Court of Mexico. Last February, was admitted for discussion by the First Chamberspecialized in civil and criminal matters.
The judgment of the Supreme Court to the litigation Richter vs. Google will have impact on the regime of freedom of expressionsince it will set a judicial precedent from the highest constitutional court of Mexico regarding the responsibility of digital platforms for the content published by their users.
“We believe in freedom of expression and in the important role that digital platforms play in giving everyone a voice; We trust that the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, in adherence to the criteria that it has consistently issued in the matter, will protect said fundamental right and resolve according to law,” said the Google spokesperson.
Who is Ulrich Richter Morales?
Richter Morales is a Mexican lawyer with experience in litigation on freedom of expression and rights related to reputation, among other legal issues. He defended the magazine Process when Marta Sahagunwife of former president Vicente Fox Quesadasued the journalist Olga Wornatand defended TV Azteca in its litigation against the Ibope television ratings measurement house.
Richter Morales has also represented Humberto Moreira Valdezformer governor of Coahuila, and the late Jorge Vergara Madrigal in dispute with his ex-wife Angelica Fuentes Tellez. It has an injunction in favor of the recreational use of marijuana.
He is the author of the books From protest to citizen participation (2017), the digital citizen (2018), The republican citizen and the Fourth Transformation (2019) and Philosophers in the technological age (2022).
History of a litigation
In 2015, Richter Morales sued Google Mexico, Google Inc. and to the then director of the company in Mexico, Lino Cattaruzzifor his responsibility in allowing the creation and dissemination of a blog with false content and that affected the personality rights of the lawyer entitled “Ulrich Richter Morales and his chingaderas a la patria.”
The judge Judith Cova Castillohead of the Tenth Civil Court of Mexico City, ruled in a March 2021 ruling that Google Inc. was responsible of “Tolerating and allowing the continuity of illegal advertising and dissemination worldwide of the contents of the illegal blog in an unjustified way, it is illegal and there was no justification to keep it on the network.”
In the ruling, Cova Castillo condemned Google and the blog’s author, Alejandro Gutiérrez Torres, for moral damages, and acquitted Google Mexico and Cattaruzzi.
One year later, in a second instance judicial decision (the review of the Cova Castillo sentence), the Eighth Civil Chamber of Mexico City confirmed the responsibility of Google Inc., but raised the amounts of the original sentence to 5,000 million pesos.
On April 24, 2023, Judge Cova Castillo ordered Google to pay the full sentence on Friday, in compliance with the judgment of the Eighth Chamber. Google asked the Eighth Chamber to pause that compliance and the Chamber granted permission this morning in exchange for posting a bond of 398 million pesos and not the total penalty amount.
The last word in the Richter v. Google will have the Supreme Court. The estimated resolution time is six to eight months.
