Canada Carbon sues Cooper for defamation
Canada Carbon sues Cooper for defamation 2014-03-03 13:29 ET - Street Wire by Mike Caswell Canada Carbon Inc. has filed a defamation suit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Paul Cooper, a former consultant to the company. According to the suit, Mr. Cooper posted a series of messages on Stockhouse that meant the company is a pump-and-dump and a scam. The posts damaged the reputations of Canada Carbon and its chief executive officer, Robert Bruce Duncan, the company complains. The allegations are contained in a notice of claim that Canada Carbon filed at the Vancouver courthouse on Monday, March 3. Both the company and Mr. Duncan are plaintiffs. The suit identifies the sole defendant as Mr. Cooper, a resident of Mississauga, Ont., who worked as a consultant for the company from August, 2012, to April, 2013. The suit says little about how his work for the company ended, but it describes his termination as acrimonious. He has since gone to work for another graphite company, Saint Jean Carbon Inc. Canada Carbon quotes five messages that Mr. Cooper allegedly posted on Stockhouse under the alias "Doobyus" in late 2013. They include one from Sept. 19, 2013, that called the company a "balloon filled with hot air." It stated that people who had "bought this dog will wish they hadnt" and that investors are "being fooled into thinking it will all magically turn into a mine." The post advised not to "look for the people running the show right now because they'll be long long gone with your money." Another post, dated Oct. 16, 2013, said that the company was "another idiotic fairy tale about building a graphite something or other." The "clueless saps" who bought at 30 cents "will be kicking themselves ... as the stock price forever drags the bottom of barrel. and the boys on the inside now.....long long gone by then." The posts meant that the company has no value, is a pump-and-dump, is a scam and is intentionally misleading investors, the suit states. They also meant that Mr. Duncan lacks experience, is operating a pump-and-dump and is defrauding investors, according to the suit. The company says the meanings are false, malicious and defamatory. Canada Carbon claims to have suffered financial damages, and Mr. Duncan claims to have suffered injury to his "reputation and mental state." The company and Mr. Duncan say they have asked Mr. Cooper to apologize for the posts more than once, but he has refused or neglected to do so. The suit seeks an injunction barring further defamation as well as damages and court costs. Vancouver lawyer Andrew Aguilar filed the suit on behalf of Canada Carbon and Mr. Duncan. Mr. Cooper has not yet filed a response. The lawsuit is one of many legal actions Canada Carbon has recently filed over Stockhouse posts. On Nov. 1, 2013, the company filed three petitions against Stockhouse seeking the identities of Mr. Cooper and two other Stockhouse posters, "2guys" and "Jinbag." The company obtained their IP addresses from Stockhouse, and then petitioned the courts to have Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. reveal their true identities. The company later received apologies from 2guys and Jinbag, which it published in a news release on Feb. 13, 2014. Canada Carbon closed unchanged Monday, at 19 cents.