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Blog
Law firm successfully sues former client for defamatory online review (D’Alessio v. Chowdhury)
Thursday, November 30, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, libel
In D’Alessio v. Chowdhury, 2023 ONSC 6075 (CanLII), an Ontario law firm successfully sued a former client for defamation as a result of her online...
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Court blasts school board chairman for undemocratic attempt to curtail freedom of expression (Burjoski v. Waterloo Region District School Board)
Wednesday, November 29, 2023James R.G. Cook, Isabel YooLitigationAnti-SLAPP, Anti-SLAPP Legislation, Defamation
Anti-SLAPP motions continue to reflect the conflicts that may arise over the freedom of the public to express opinions on ...
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Bona fide complaints to police are matters of public interest (Zeppa v. Rea)
Monday, October 23, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP, Matter of Public Interest
When a person believes that someone has committed a crime, it is, of course, perfectly reasonable that they...
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Defamation action against employee who spoke out about workplace racism dismissed (Williams v. Vac Developments Ltd.)
Thursday, October 12, 2023Isabel YooLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP Motion, Dismissed
Our past blogs have discussed anti-SLAPP motions at length. This post explores yet another decision on an...
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Defamation action against “consumer alert” reporter dismissed (Boraks v. Hussein)
Tuesday, September 19, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP, Dismissal of Action
In general, ordinary consumers of goods and services are viewed as a vulnerable class. While in certain circumstances, consumers can be protected by...
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Court of Appeal upholds dismissal of anti-SLAPP motion in trucking protest case (2110120 Ontario Inc. v. Buttar)
Friday, August 18, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP Motion, Dismissed
Last April, I wrote a blog about a motion judge’s decision to dismiss an anti-SLAPP motion in a trucking protest case on the grounds that the dispute between the parties...
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Defamatory Facebook Posts Prove Costly – Part 2 (Robinson v. Niganobe)
Wednesday, August 2, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationFacebook, Defamation, Social Media
As we have previously discussed, defamatory posts on Facebook and similar social media platforms can be...
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Torts that Might Apply in a Dispute Between Neighbours in a Condominium (Novakovic v. Salvador)
Tuesday, August 1, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation
Part of the purpose of our blogs is to help educate the reader about the law and the tests that apply to various causes of...
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A review of the test for anti-SLAPP motions (Yates v. Iron Horse Corporation and St. Martin)
Monday, July 31, 2023Isabel YooLitigationTorts, Defamation, Anti-SLAPP
The acronym “SLAPP” is short for “strategic lawsuits against public participation”. These are tools used to intimidate or silence criticism by engaging the critic with...
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A Lawyer’s Office is not a Drop Box for Service (Yuk-Shum v. Jiang)
Thursday, July 27, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, Procedure, Notice
Service of an originating process, like a statement of claim, or other court documents is, in general, governed by the...
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The law of defamation in a nutshell (Stratuscent Inc. v. Chehade)
Monday, July 24, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Torts, Remedies, Injunction
Over the past few years, we have written a lot of blogs on the law of defamation...
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Defamatory Online Postings and Cyber-Bullying Leads to One of the Highest Defamation Awards in Canada
Wednesday, July 12, 2023Isabel YooLitigationTorts, Defamation, Damages, Internet
Online defamatory statements have the potential to reach a global audience and maintain a perpetual existence. It is impossible to...
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$50,000 costs guideline for successful anti-SLAPP motion not applied again
Thursday, July 6, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP, Costs
As we have written before, Canada’s civil court system is “a loser pays” jurisdiction. In general, a party that loses a motion or...
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“Chilling effect” on a plaintiff or others not grounds for harm on an anti-SLAPP motion
Monday, June 12, 2023Stephen A. Thiele, Michael LauricellaLitigationTorts, Defamation, Anti-SLAPP
Since 2020, two Supreme Court of Canada cases have guided the analysis of anti-SLAPP motions in Ontario and...
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Counterclaim for breach of fiduciary duty in wrongful dismissal action dismissed under anti-SLAPP legislation
Monday, April 10, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationCourts of Justice Act, Anti-SLAPP, Defamation
While defamation lawsuits continue to receive the most judicial attention under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) legislation, the statutory remedy has also proven...
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Former Chamber of Commerce employee's defamation action allowed to continue
Monday, February 13, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Anti-SLAPP, Defamation, Motion Dismissed
Although section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (the “CJA”), the “anti-SLAPP provision”, has become a powerful tool to dismiss defamation actions at an early stage, there is certainly no guarantee that its use will always be...
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Freedom of expression prevails in responses to COVID-19 protest organizers’ defamation action
Monday, January 16, 2023Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Anti-SLAPP, Defamation
March 2020 will live in our memories forever. It is the month that, among other things, the world panicked, that governments issued emergency orders to shutdown...
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Claim against Google for hosting defamatory reviews allowed to proceed
Friday, January 6, 2023James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Removal of online posts, Google, Online Reviews
Online search engines such as Google allow businesses to market their services to a wide customer base. Businesses may also be subject to online reviews which are...
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Defamatory statements made in a pleading are immune to attack
Friday, November 25, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefences, Torts, Defamation, Absolute Privilege
The law of defamation permits a defendant to raise specialized defences to defeat a claim. The most common defences are...
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Damages in a defamation action
Friday, November 18, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDamages, Torts, Defamation
Reputational harm is serious. It can have devastating impacts on the person whose reputation has...
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Female mining executive’s defamation claim against government employee allowed to proceed
Tuesday, November 15, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, SLAPP, Defamation
Ontario and British Columbia are the only two common law provinces that have anti-SLAPP legislation. This legislation permits the early dismissal of claims that...
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75-day house arrest ordered for contempt in a defamation case
Wednesday, November 2, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Contempt of Court, Defamation
In a previous blog dated June 30, 2022, my colleague James Cook wrote about the award granted to a university instructor who was defamed on Twitter by ...
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Losing an anti-SLAPP motion can be costly for a plaintiff
Thursday, July 14, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationCosts, Defamation, Torts, Anti-SLAPP
The issue of costs is important for parties to take into consideration when litigating a case. Presumptively, winning parties are entitled to...
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Toronto City Councillor knocks out defamation action
Monday, July 4, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Anti-SLAPP Legislation, Torts
Although politicians continue to be targets of defamation actions, politicians also continue to knock them out under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP...
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Defendant liable for defamatory tweets about university instructor
Thursday, June 30, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Social Media, Twitter
As an Ontario court has previously recognized, Twitter is a rhetorically harsh speech environment. A stark difference in political or other views may be expressed through tweets that
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City politicians succeed in getting defamation claim against them dismissed
Friday, June 10, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Torts, Anti-SLAPP
Politics can be a rough profession, particularly where the issues being debated attract diametrically opposed views. Some social issues often bleed into...
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Defamation basics and pre-trial disposition motions
Monday, January 24, 2022Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Torts, Pre-trial Disposition
We have written a lot about defamation cases on this blog and the pre-trial disposition of defamation actions under...
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CBC liable for defaming investment advisor
Tuesday, January 4, 2022James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, CBC
In June 2012, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) televised two news stories featuring a retired Canadian Pacific Railway employee who claimed to have lost more than half of...
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Ford wins again! Court of Appeal for Ontario upholds dismissal of defamation action against him
Friday, November 26, 2021Stephen A. Thiele, Alexander Melfi, Gavin J. Tighe, K.C.LitigationDefamation, Torts, SLAPP
Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (the “CJA”) has made it harder for a plaintiff to maintain a defamation action against a defendant where the issue related to the expression involves a matter of...
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Lawyer wins $500,000 in defamation action
Thursday, October 28, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Damages, Torts
Damage awards in a defamation case can be significant. This is especially the case where...
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Defamer gets 18 month jail sentence for contempt of court
Thursday, October 21, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Torts, Remedies, Contempt of Court
In the law of defamation, we only tend to think about the damages that are awarded for a person’s loss of reputation or the intellectual analysis conducted by...
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Snapchat post results in liability for defamation
Monday, October 18, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Social Media
Capturing and reposting a screen shot of a private Snapchat photo sent by another person can result in liability for damages if it includes defamatory comments about...
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Blogger liable to plastic surgeon for defamatory posts about botched breast augmentation
Wednesday, September 22, 2021James R.G. Cook, Kevin MooibroekLitigationDefamation
A British Columbia plastic surgeon successfully sued a former patient for defamation following comments she posted online alleging...
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Court Refuses To Dismiss Claims That Did Not Engage SLAPP Provisions
Wednesday, September 1, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP
Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act (the “CJA”), which permits the dismissal of actions related to an expression made with respect to a matter of public interest, continues to...
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Lawyer liable for defaming daughter of former client
Monday, July 26, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation
A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice demonstrates that correspondence written by a lawyer may give rise to a claim for defamation if...
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Zak Sabbath’s defamation claim allowed to continue against Mandy Morbid
Friday, June 18, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationSocial Media, Facebook, Defamation, SLAPP, libel
In early 2019, a former model and adult film performer, Amanda Nagy also known as “Mandy Morbid,” posted a message on her Facebook page saying that Zak Smith, her former husband, artist, tabletop role-playing game (RPG) creator and...
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Summary judgment denied over defamatory TV show first aired in Pakistan
Tuesday, May 25, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, Summary Judgment, libel, slander
Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure provide that where there is no genuine issue requiring a trial, summary judgment shall be granted. It has been determined by Ontario courts that this rule is...
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$500,000 in damages awarded for comments about yellow Ferrari’s ownership
Friday, May 14, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Damages, Torts
Cars are a tremendous invention. Historically, among other things, cars changed the way that people travelled and reduced significantly the travel time between destinations. Cars are certainly very popular and...
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Injunction granted to stop defamatory posts published on Instagram
Friday, April 30, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Torts, Injunction
Social media is a great tool for, among other things, the promotion of personal or business interests, or connecting with like-minded individuals. It provides a window to...
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Gratuitous Defamatory Tweets About Plaintiff Not Protected as a Matter of Public Interest
Monday, April 5, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, SLAPP, Pre-trial Disposition
The internet and social media have spawned much civil litigation in the area of defamation. There is no cost to obtaining a Twitter account, for example, and to “tweeting” out a...
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Defaming a professional can be costly
Wednesday, March 3, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Advertising, Alberta, Alberta Dental Association
The law of defamation is unique in that general damages are awarded at-large. There is no upper ceiling for an award and there is little value to be gained in attempting to compare...
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Reputation can be everything
Thursday, February 25, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation
The tort of defamation is all about the protection of a person’s reputation. Where a person suffers a loss of reputation because of words spoken or published about...
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You can’t play dress up with a defamation action
Thursday, February 18, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, slander
The law of defamation is subject to many strict rules, which may vary from province-to-province under respective special libel and slander...
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Defamation Judgment Upheld Against Pseudonymous Online Poster
Wednesday, February 10, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation
In Theralase Technologies Inc. v Lanter, 2021 ONSC 943 (CanLII), Justice F.L. Myers dismissed a motion to set aside default judgment obtained against a defendant who...
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Criminal proceedings and the civil defamation claim: A limitation period lesson
Friday, February 5, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Limitations Act, Ontario Court of Appeal
In Ontario, section 4 of the Limitations Act, 2002 establishes a general two-year limitation period for commencing an action from...
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Disgorgement of profits could be a potential remedy in a defamation action
Tuesday, February 2, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, British Columbia, Damages
Remedies are an important aspect of any case. In the law of defamation, the usual remedy sought by most plaintiffs is general damages for reputational harm. In a defamation case...
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Internet Harassment Tort Recognized by Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Monday, February 1, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Harassment, Torts, Cyber-stalking
Cyber-stalking and anonymous malicious postings on the internet, which may be disseminated across a variety of sites and platforms across the world, are issues to which the...
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Limitation period avoided: Claims of republication of libel by third party allowed to be added action because stories were on internet
Monday, February 1, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationTorts, Defamation, Republication, Limitation Periods
Across the country, limitation periods have been enacted to regulate the time in which an action can be commenced. Defendants are entitled to finality, and...
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Defamation action against Ontario Premier dismissed under Courts of Justice Act
Thursday, January 28, 2021Stephen A. Thiele, Gavin J. Tighe, K.C.LitigationDefamation, Funds, Police Services Act, Members’ Integrity Act, Courts of Justice Act, Political Law
Early last year, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, in a highly sensationalized lawsuit was sued for defamation by a former Deputy Commissioner and...
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Patrick Brown takes down insurance company
Wednesday, January 27, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Funds, Insurance Law
An issue that sometimes arises in defamation actions is whether the costs of a prosecution or a defence is covered by an insurance...
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Defamation claim against Twitter allowed to proceed in British Columbia
Tuesday, January 26, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, British Columbia, Twitter
Defamation claim against Twitter allowed to proceed in British Columbia
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Subway’s $210 million chicken content defamation claim against the CBC restored by Court of Appeal
Monday, January 25, 2021James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Anti-SLAPP Legislation, Subway, CBC, Chicken
The Ontario Court of Appeal has restored Subway’s defamation action against the CBC which was dismissed in 2019 pursuant to Ontario’s...
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Plaintiffs who started debate on matters of public interest have defamation claim dismissed
Wednesday, January 20, 2021Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Courts of Justice Act
Vigorous and passionate debate over matters of public interest are the lifeblood of democracy because it is often...
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Who is that guy? A lesson in the law of defamation
Wednesday, December 9, 2020Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation, Supreme Court of Canada
The law of defamation is about protecting a person’s reputation. Accordingly, as determined by the Supreme Court of Canada in the seminal case of...
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Ontario Court of Appeal Upholds Doctor's Damages for Defamatory Postings on RateMDs.com
Monday, December 7, 2020James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Damages, Ontario Court of Appeal
In response to a series of negative and untruthful online reviews, a medical doctor sued the author of the posts for defamation and was awarded...
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Injunction to Remove Allegedly Defamatory Social Media Posts Dismissed
Friday, November 27, 2020James R.G. CookLitigationDefamation, Damages, Social Media, BLM Movement, Free Speech
A recent case of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice illustrates the difficulties that a plaintiff may encounter when seeking to stop allegedly defamatory posts...
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Volunteer Coaches' Defamation Claim Dismissed as Contrary to Public Interest
Monday, November 2, 2020James R.G. CookLitigationOntario Superior Court of Justice, Courts of Justice Act, Ringette, Coaching, Defamation
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a defamation claim which arose from an email sent by parents of a competitive ringette player expressing their dissatisfaction with ...
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Real Estate Agent’s Defamation Claim Survives Anti-SLAPP Motion
Thursday, September 24, 2020James R.G. CookLitigation, Real EstateDefamation, Online Reviews, Anti-SLAPP Legislation, Anti-SLAPP Legislation
In Niu v. Cao, 2020 ONSC 5407 (CanLII), an Ontario real estate agent was permitted to proceed with a defamation claim stemming from online postings maligning...
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Fence Dispute Leads to $70,000 Defamation Judgment
Monday, September 14, 2020James R.G. CookLitigation, Real EstateDefamation, Small Claims Court, libel, slander
A dispute between two neighbours over a fence led to a $70,000 judgment against an online activist who posted defamatory comments about one of the...
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Online Reviews, Freedom of Expression and Anti-SLAPP Legislation: 910938 Ontario Inc v Moore
Monday, August 17, 2020James R.G. CookLitigationComplaints, Defamation, Anti-SLAPP Legislation, Online Reviews
Consider a time when you had a terrible customer service experience while shopping, going to the dentist, or grabbing a bite to eat with some friends. Perhaps you felt sufficiently motivated to post a negative...
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The other side of MeToo
Tuesday, February 20, 2018Stephen A. ThieleLitigationDefamation
The #MeToo movement has started a revolution. No longer are women, in particular, afraid to speak about incidents in which they have...
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