Libel and defamation behind a USERID 2022 February 9
The British Columbia Supreme Court awarded defamation damages aggregating $190,000 to the plaintiffs over false and inflammatory statements on various blogs and websites and in emails containing links to the blog posts. General damages were assessed at $150,000 split equally between the corporate plaintiff and the individual plaintiff, an officer and director of the company. The defendant, who did not show up for the summary trial, had asserted that one of his blogs served “6,000 eyeballs per day” and the Court held there was “an overwhelming body of evidence … that the posts authored [by the defendant] were published on the internet and read by many people.” Each plaintiff was also awarded $5,000 aggravated damages on the basis the defendant was motivated by actual mala fides and also displayed a reckless disregard for the truth. Each plaintiff was also awarded $15,000 punitive damages in order to “deter [the defendant] from engaging in … manipulative, harmful and socially destructive behaviour in the future.” Special costs were also ordered in favour of the plaintiffs, as well as a permanent injunction. The Court also made an order that the plaintiffs had made out a prima facie case that the defendant had deliberately violated a pre-trial injunction and expressed the hope he would be deterred from further harassing conduct, rendering a final finding of contempt unnecessary.