Introduction
Foolish legal bodger Brian Fowler has been in the High Court recently, representing A Shade Greener, this time taking on social media giants Meta!
I’d previously written that dodgy solicitor Fowler had come under the scrutiny of the High Court after being thrown under the bus by his Counsel John Boumphrey – and then claimed he couldn’t join a remote hearing before Master Fountaine because he didn’t have a visa to take a Zoom call whilst on holiday….
This time, Fowler is upping his game and trying to obtain a Norwich Phamrical Order against Meta Platforms – aka Facebook.
A Shade Greener v Meta Platforms (KB-2025-002301)
There have been numerous demands from A Shade Greener made to various Facebook groups, that have complaints about their sales tactics and products, that those groups release the identities of those who are members or administrators of the groups.
Given A Shade Greener’s propensity to threaten and proceed with spurious defamation claims (with 3 having been abandoned so far), it is apparent that providing data of members or administrators of the Facebook groups, would likely lead to more of the same.
Seemingly fed up of getting nowhere, A Shade Greener applied for a Norwich Pharmical Order against Meta Platforms. This means that if the Court agrees to the Order, Meta/Facebook would be required to provide names and perhaps other data relating to those individuals.
Hearing on 27 May 2026
The matter came before Master Dagnell initially on 27 May 2026.
During this hearing, Master Dagnell raised concerns over the application, stating it was “unusual” and questioned why A Shade Greener weren’t simply dealing with complaints – rather than try and litigate around them.
The Judge also commented that he was unclear why the Facebook groups (full of complaints) could be causing A Shade Greener loss, when the members of the groups already had a low opinion of ASG.
In essence, Master Dagnell sent A Shade Greener away with on 27 May to come back with a better explanation, of their case – and re-listed the matter for 1 July 2026.
Cancelled Hearing on 1 July 2026
Some members become concerned that the 1 July 2026 Hearing was canceled, wondering what was going on.
However, it seems this isn’t a bad thing: on 30 June 2026, bodge it Brian had served a new Witness Statement, which ostensibly Judge Dagnall was concerned with.
On the 10 July (having reflected on the 30 June witness statement) the Court sealed an Order, which stated (amongst other things):
“AND UPON the Claimants filing a witness statement of Brian Fowler dated 30 June 2026 (“the Witness Statement”) and other materials and requesting a further hearing”
“AND UPON the Court being unsure as to whether the Witness Statement deals with certain matters required by the May 2026 Order”
This starts to form a clue as to the 1 July Hearing being cancelled. Ostensibly, on 27 May 2026, the Judge ordered further particulars in relation to the Norwich Pharmical application – which were purported to have been provided on 30 June 2026…. and seemingly, the Court was not happy with what it saw, and didn’t bother to waste the time and costs holding the hearing.
So, Brian Fowler and a Shade Greener were ordered (very literally) to create another witness statement, to be filed and served by 24 July 2026:
New Hearing – 20 August 2026
The good news is that the High Court (presumably Master Dagnall) will re-hear the matter on the 20 August 2026 at 10:30.
That hearing will presumably deal with the 24 July Witness Statement, and Court will decide if the Norwich Pharmical Order is required.
It would of course be nice to see a Judgement following that 20 August hearing – which no doubt the Court will hand down thereafter.
Conclusion
This is obviously an ongoing matter, and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Whilst the delay of the 1 July hearing may be frustrating for some – it does show some excellent case management skills by Master Dagnall, who seemingly didn’t see any point in wasting time and costs on a hearing that was going to go nowhere. So, as the Court is entitled to do, of its own motion, it made an Order seeking ASG resolves big holes in their case.
It is unclear how or what ASG gaining a Norwich Pharmical Order will assist, especially when some of the individuals named in the Order on the penultimate page (including Stuart Potter and Robert Coates) have already had defamation claims brought against them, which were then abandoned by ASG.
You can and never should guess a Judge or their anticipated conclusion – but it is evident from the evidence so far, with bodge it Brian now on this third chance to get it right; on the face of it, the Court isn’t impressed with the case they are seeing as presented.
