A YouTuber being sued by retired boxing star Carl Frampton for allegedly disclosing details of a high-end watch purchase is to be allowed to defend the action at trial, a judge has ruled.
Nico Leonard Van Der Horst is accused of breaching confidence by publicly revealing the former two-weight world champion bought an expensive timepiece from his shop.
Mr Frampton sought damages for misuse of private information, claiming the entrepreneur and specialist watch advisor exploited his reputation in an online video.
He initially obtained a default judgment at the High Court in Belfast after Nico Leonard failed to enter an appearance.
But a judge agreed to set aside that outcome after ruling the luxury watch dealer has an arguable defence to the claims against him.
Master Harvey held that the case should proceed to trial despite criticising the defendant over delays in responding to the action.
“His conduct and deplorable online comments, twice referring to the court case as ‘funny’ after being served with proceedings clearly showed little regard for this court or the legal process, never mind the plaintiff,” he said.
Mr Frampton sued over a posting on Nico Leonard’s YouTube channel in April 2022.
Broadcast under the title ‘Watch expert reacts to Tyson Fury’s insane watch collection’, the video also allegedly revealed Mr Frampton had made an expensive purchase from the businessman’s shop.
The ex-champion claims his name was wrongly used to promote the defendant’s trade.
He also contended the video was edited in a way which was offensive and derogatory towards him.
The court heard the clip was viewed more than 235,000 times before being edited to remove references to Mr Frampton.
He is seeking damages for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and breach of copyright.
Lawyers now instructed by Nico Leonard argued there are grounds for defending the claim at a trial hearing.
He made it clear in the video that Mr Frampton no longer used his shop and bought watches from a rival establishment, the court heard.
With the alleged breaches denied, it was also claimed an online tweet about servicing another watch and a magazine photograph taken at a charity event amounted to the former boxer putting the information in the public domain.
Finding sufficient merit in the grounds advanced, Master Harvey granted Nico Leonard’s application.
“Based on the material available to me, on the facts of this application, there is an arguable defence which requires me to set aside the judgement,” he said.
Master Harvey also made an award of legal costs to Mr Frampton.