B.C. family awarded $210,000 damages for grow-op libel

 

After a nine-day trial, an Abbotsford, B.C. family has been awarded $210,000 in general damages after their reputations were severely harmed by an article printed in the Abbotsford/Mission Times newspaper in October 2004. The article, titled "Violence increasing with added grow ops", falsely labelled the Manno family as the victims of a recent grow-op rip-off. Although it did not name the Mannos specifically, it printed their address and ran a photograph that showed three members of the family surrounded by police officers outside their home.

The caption under the photo read: - Police talk to residents of a house at 29655 Fraser Highway last week. Reports over the police scanner were that the residents of the home were victims of a grow-op rip-off. "The article went on to say that the home was targeted for its marijuana and illegal proceeds and that there were "reports of two suspects running away with full garbage bags. The victims of the incident did not co-operate with police."

The judge concluded that there was no marijuana-growing operation anywhere on the property at any time. No evidence was presented to the contrary. The Mannos had called police to the home after being robbed by two armed men in broad daylight.

 

You can read this verdict at: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/sc/08/07/2008bcsc0738.htm.

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Internet postings cost B.C. man $180,000

 

The British Columbia Supreme Court awarded an Australian man $180,000 in general and aggravated damages after a B.C. man defamed him on numerous internet websites over a five-year period. The plaintiff, Robert Griffin, alleges that the defendant, Patrick Michael Sullivan, began making comments about him in May 2003 and continued to do so right up until the trial in April 2008.

Over that period, the defendant made numerous postings about the plaintiff, calling him "a stalker, abuser, harasser, criminal, evil, liar, killer, sexual predator, pervert, pedophile, coward, manipulator and hate monger who threatens others with death and violence, betrays confidences and is untrustworthy, is dangerous, abuses, impregnates and abandons women and publishes their personal information, encourages and actively assists and incites vulnerable people into committing suicide, and deserves to be jailed and killed."

 

Sullivan, who represented himself at trial, argued that the statements he published were true and used this as his main defence.

 

The judge concluded that the defendant failed to prove the truth of the statements. In addition to the damages award, the defendant was ordered to make all reasonable efforts to remove from the internet all postings that he has published or caused to be published which refer to the plaintiff.

 

You can read this verdict at: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/sc/08/08/2008bcsc0827.htm.

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Shock jock must pay $340,000 for weather girl insults

 

A Quebec City talk radio host and his station owner have been ordered to pay a television weather presenter more than $340,000 in damages for derogatory and demeaning remarks over a period of five years.

Justice Alain Paul of Quebec Superior Court agreed that the young woman was publicly harassed, degraded and shattered by the remarks. He also noted that the station owner refused to stop the onslaught, long after the woman commenced her lawsuit in 2002.

The radio host has since been taken off the air.

The station owner will file an appeal on the grounds that the damages exceed the amounts normally awarded for defamation cases.

The award included $200,000 in punitive damages and $40,000 for legal costs. We expect that the total cost to the defendants, including their legal costs, will be $500,000 and perhaps more if they proceed with the appeal.

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Biathlete wins settlement for unauthorized use of image

 

Myriam Bédard, the Canadian Olympic champion biathlete, has reached an out-of-court settlement with Wrigley Canada Inc., the chewing gum firm, and their advertising agency. Bédard's lawsuit claimed that without her consent, Wrigley used a photograph of her in a series of print ads and doctored the photo to make her look ridiculous. She sought damages of $725,000, but details of the settlement were not disclosed.

The advertising campaign is still the subject of a legal action by the wire service that owns the rights to the original image. The Canadian Press (CP) and its commercial photo company, CP Picture Archive, are also suing Wrigley Canada Inc. and the advertising agency for copyright infringement and damages.

CP contends that the advertising firm requested photos of Bédard, including the image in question — a shot of her competing at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan — and later returned them, saying they would not be needed.

A lawyer representing the wire service said there has been no settlement in that case. CP is seeking several hundred thousand dollars in damages, as well as their legal costs.

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Supreme Court won't hear CBC libel appeal

 

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) appeal of two Ontario Court of Appeal verdicts, said to be the largest libel awards in Canadian history.

Last year, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld two separate trial verdicts that found the broadcaster liable for damages arising from a story about drugs for heart attacks broadcast on the CBC news program "the fifth estate" in February 1996. The court agreed that the investigative program was malicious, unfair and defamatory.

Dr. Frans Leenen and Dr. Martin Myers were awarded more than $1.3 million in damages. Together these awards and associated legal expenses will likely exceed $4 million.

As is its practice, the Supreme Court offered no explanation for declining to hear the CBC's appeal, but the court's action means that the CBC has now exhausted all legal avenues by which these judgments might be contested.

We featured the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling of these cases in the autumn 2001 edition of News Board.

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Ex-Canadians scrap over $24.5-million comic-book lawsuit

 

A St Louis, Missouri jury has awarded US$24.5 million (Cdn$36.7 million) to Tony Twist, an ex-National Hockey League scrapper. Mr. Twist's lawsuit argued that the Spawn comic-book used the player's name for a villainous character, a violent, morally bankrupt Mob boss named Antonio Twistelli, also known as "Tony Twist," in the comic-book and in an animated cartoon. The award must be paid by the publisher, Image Comics, and others involved in the production of the Spawn franchise.

Twist, who recently retired from the St. Louis Blues, racked up 149 penalty minutes while scoring only eight points in the 63 games he played in the 1998-99 season. He claimed that he had lost lucrative product endorsements because of confusion and the soiling of his reputation.

By a coincidence, both Mr. Twist and Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic character are Canadians who presently live in the US.

Michael Kahn, lawyer for Image Comics, said the celebrity of Mr. Twist in St. Louis was the only reason the case was successful. "Although the evidence shows that the plaintiff is a minor local celebrity, there is not much evidence that he is known anywhere else. He had only a few national articles written on him over a 10-year career," said Mr. Kahn.

"If you are Tony Twist, the best place to bring a lawsuit is St. Louis. I think we all agree that if he tried to sue him in Phoenix, where Todd McFarlane is, or southern California, where Image Comics is, it would be different."

"To my knowledge, this is the only case like this involving a fictional character that has ever gotten this far," he said. He will be asking the judge to toss out the jury's decision and render his own decision.

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Software company pays $3.7 M for celebrity privacy lawsuit

 

Corel, the Ottawa-based computer software company, and their insurers have settled a lawsuit with the Hollywood film star Hedy Lamarr.

An unauthorized image of Lamarr, created with CorelDRAW software, was the winner of a design contest. Unaware of the oversight, Corel used the image on their packaging and display material for CorelDRAW, which was marketed in Canada and around the world.

The cost of the negotiated settlement exceeded $3.7 M (US$2.5 million). Lamarr also granted Corel a five-year exclusive licence to continue to use the image.

Hedy Lamarr was one of the most popular actresses of her day. She died in January 2000 at the age of 86.

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Activist wins $350,000 libel suit

 

17-year-old child-rights activist Craig Kielburger of Thornhill, Ontario has settled a three year libel lawsuit against Saturday Night Magazine for $319,000.

The lawsuit, which sought $3 million in damages, was launched shortly after the publication in 1996 of an article called "The Most Powerful 13-Year-Old in the World" which profiled Mr. Kielburger.

Mr. Kielburger said of the article "It hurt me, it hurt my parents and it hurt the (Free the Children) organization." The settlement included $144,000 for Mr. Kielburger's legal costs.

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Bouchard and Parizeau win $40,000 for "Hitler" slur

 

A Montreal investment advisor must pay damages to Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard and ex- Premier Jacques Parizeau because he compared them to Adolf Hitler in an article published in a 1993 newsletter. The newsletter was distributed to only 275 subscribers.

Mr. Justice Luc Lefebvre of the Quebec Superior Court ordered the advisor to pay $20,000 each plus their legal costs.

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Appeal court upholds huge awards for broadcast defamation

 

The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld large trial verdicts against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The CBC had appealed two separate trial verdicts that found the broadcaster liable for damages arising from a story by the news program the fifth estate, broadcast in February 1996, about drugs for heart attacks.

Dr. Frans Leenen and Dr. Martin Myers alleged that the investigative program was malicious, unfair and defamatory.

In April 2000, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded Dr. Leenen $950,000 in damages and $836,178 in legal expenses. In a separate case heard by the Ontario Superior Court, the CBC was ordered to pay Toronto cardiologist Martin Myers $200,000.

The appeal court dismissed the CBC’s appeals and awarded a further $150,000 to Dr. Myers for aggravated damages.

Together these awards and associated legal expenses will exceed $4 million. We judge that these awards represent the most costly defamation verdict against a Canadian broadcaster or publisher.

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Cartoonist wins slander appeal

 

New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal has overturned a slander verdict rendered against a local cartoonist.

Malcolm Ross, a former teacher and a holocaust denier, sued Josh Beutel in 1993 for a cartoon that depicted Ross as a Nazi. In 1998, the trial court ordered Beutel to pay Ross $7,500 in damages.

Five groups, including the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canadian Newspaper Association, intervened in the appeal to support Beutel.

The appeal court overturned the trial court verdict and ordered Ross to pay Beutel $5,000 in costs. Earlier this year, The Court of Queen’s Bench turned down Ross’s case against the New Brunswick Teachers Association. Ross wanted the association to reimburse him for more than $13,000 in legal fees for the trial against Beutel.

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Supreme Court says no to Globe & Mail appeal

 

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal of a $780,000 libel award against the Globe and Mail.

Last year, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a trial court verdict in favour of Robert Hodgson. Hodgson sued the Toronto newspaper for allegations in a series of articles published in 1991 that suggested improper links with land developers. As a result of the articles, he lost his job as regional engineer with York Region of Ontario.

The appeal court verdict upheld the award for general damages but overturned the punitive damages award of $100,000. Because the Supreme Court will not hear the appeal, the Globe and Mail has exhausted its line of legal defence against this action.

We estimate that pre- and post-judgment interest and legal costs will increase the cost of this dispute to more than $1.4 million.

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Pharmacist wins $750,000 defamation award

 

A small-town Saskatchewan pharmacist has won a substantial award for damages for a campaign of slander by a local doctor. Harvey Duke owned a pharmacy in the small community of Broadview, Saskatchewan, about 200 kilometres east of Regina.

The court heard that shortly after Dr. Marc Puts moved to Broadview, he became frustrated with his shortage of patients and began a campaign of allegations that Mr. Duke, who had worked in the town for 18 years, and another doctor were conspiring to defraud federal and provincial health plans.

Investigations by the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Saskatchewan Pharmaceutical Association concluded that Dr. Puts's allegations were unfounded. However, the accusations took a terrible toll on Mr. Duke and his family. He finally left the town and sold his business for about half its appraised value.

The court awarded Mr. Duke $750,000 in damages. Dr. Puts said he plans to appeal the verdict.

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Ontario appeal court enforces U.S. default judgment

 

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld a lower court ruling that ordered a Canadian businessman to pay $889,862 in damages.

In October 1991, John Kresz, a resident of Canada, was ordered to pay Loren Girsberger Cdn$778,056 in damages for tortious interference with contract and defamation in the state of Illinois. The Appellate Court of Illinois confirmed the judgment in 1993. It is not clear whether Kresz defended either of the proceedings in Illinois, but the judgment went unsatisfied.

In 1997, Girsberger discovered that Kresz had assets in Ontario and commenced an action in Ontario to enforce the Illinois judgments. In May 1998, Justice Epstein declared the Illinois judgment valid and enforceable in Ontario and granted summary judgment.

In the six years between the date of the Illinois judgment and the date of the Ontario action, the value of the Canadian dollar fell sharply, so the court adjusted the damages to $889,862 to reflect the currency conversion.

The Ontario judgment was registered against Kresz's properties in Ontario, Manitoba and B.C.

Kresz appealed, but the appeal court upheld both the lower court ruling enforcing the Illinois judgments and the adjustment for currency conversion.

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British internet service provider settles landmark libel case

 

Demon, the big British internet service provider (ISP), has settled a libel case in a move which could have wide-ranging implications for online publishers.

The plaintiff, Dr. Laurence Godfrey, will receive £15,000 (Cdn$32,850) plus his legal costs, which are said to exceed £200,000 (Cdn$438,000), from Demon after allegedly defamatory postings about him appeared in newsgroups.

In the first case of its kind to go before the English courts, Godfrey's lawsuit alleged that Demon failed to remove the defamatory material from a newsgroup it hosted.

Although such discussion forums are often full of robust, forthright and even offensive opinions posted by individuals, the case hinged on whether Demon could be treated as publisher of the material.

Demon had previously said the case would affect the entire ethos of free speech on the internet.

If the ISPs become more cautious over what material they allow to be published&emdash;by screening submissions or suspending web sites&emdash;they could inflame the debate over freedom of expression or damage internet-based businesses.

According to Nick Arnold, an information technology lawyer, "This will be the benchmark for all future cases." He said the case raised the issue of whether ISPs would be responsible for monitoring all the material trafficking through their systems.

"For the larger ones, it is going to be almost impossible for them to do so without putting enormous resources into their infrastructure," he explained. "There will also be problems over whether they are obliged to assess whether material is defamatory or not." Under English law, ISPs are not held to have been the publishers of defamatory material if they satisfy two criteria:

• They must prove that they took reasonable care to ensure that such material was not published;
• Once alerted to a problem, they must prove that they took steps to resolve it.

Godfrey's action against Demon related to a message posted in 1997, purportedly coining from him and containing damaging allegations of a personal nature.

He said he asked Demon to remove the message, but the ISP refused. The message was copied to its servers around the world and many others containing newsgroup messages.

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Ex-Canadians scrap over $36.7-million comic-book lawsuit

 

A St. Louis, Missouri jury has awarded US$24.5 million (Cdn$36. million) to Tony Twist, an ex-National Hockey League scrapper. Twist's lawsuit argued that the Spawn comic book used the player's name for a villainous character&emdash;a violent, morally bankrupt mob boss named Antonio Twistelli, also known as "Tony Twist"&emdash;in the comic book and in an animated cartoon. The award must be paid by the publisher, Image Comics, and others involved in the production of the Spawn franchise.

Twist, who recently retired from the St. Louis Blues, racked up 149 penalty minutes while scoring only eight points in the 63 games he played in the 1998-99 season. He claimed that he had lost lucrative product endorsements because of confusion and the soiling of his reputation.

By coincidence, both Twist and Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic character, are Canadians who currently live in the U.S. Michael Kahn, lawyer for Image Comics, said Twist's celebrity in St. Louis was the only reason the case was successful.

"Although the evidence shows that the plaintiff is a minor local celebrity, there is not much evidence that he is known anywhere else. He had only a few national articles written on him over a 10-year career," Kahn said.

"If you are Tony Twist, the best place to bring a lawsuit is St. Louis. I think we all agree that if he tried to sue in Phoenix, where Todd McFarlane is, or southern California, where Image Comics is, it would he different," he explained.

"To my knowledge, this is the only case like this involving a fictional character that has ever gotten this far," Kahn said. He will be asking the judge to toss out the jury's verdict and render his own decision.

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Biathiete wins settlement for unauthorized use of image

 

Myriam Bédard, the Canadian Olympic champion biathlete, has reached an out-of-court settlement with Wrigley Canada Inc., the chewing gum firm, and their advertising agency. Bédard's lawsuit claimed that without her consent, Wrigley used a photograph of her in a series of print ads and doctored the photo to make her look ridiculous. She sought damages of $725,000, but details of the settlement were not disclosed.

The advertising campaign is still the subject of a legal action by the wire service that owns the rights to the original image. The Canadian Press (CP) and its commercial photo company, CP Picture Archive, are also suing Wrigley Canada Inc. and the advertising agency for copyright infringement and damages.

CP contends that the advertising firm requested photos of Bédard, including the image in question&emdash;a shot of her competing at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan&emdash; and later returned them, saying they would not be needed.

A lawyer representing the wire service said there has been no settlement in that case. CP is seeking several hundred thousand dollars in damages, as well as their legal costs.

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Bouchard and Parizeau win $20,000 each for "Hitler" slur

 

A Montreal investment adviser must pay damages to Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard and ex-Premier Jacques Parizeau because the adviser compared them to Adolf Hitler in an article published in a 1993 newsletter. The newsletter was distributed to only 275 subscribers.

Mr. Justice Luc Lefebvre of the Quebec Superior Court ordered the defendant to pay $20,000 each to Bouchard and Parizeau, plus their legal costs.

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Activist wins $319,000 libel suit

 

Seventeen-year-old child-rights activist Craig Kielburger of Thornhill, Ontario has settled a three-year libel lawsuit against Saturday Night magazine for $319,000.

The lawsuit, which sought $3 million in damages, was launched shortly after the 1996 publication of an article called "The most powerful 13-year-old in the world," which profiled Mr. Kielburger.

Mr. Kielburger said of the article, "It hurt me, it hurt my parents and it hurt the (Free the Children) organization." The settlement included $144,000 for Mr. Kielburger's legal costs.

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Scientists, physicians awarded $1.2-million for broadcast Libel

 

In two separate trials, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has been found liable for damages arising from a story about drugs for heart attacks by the CBC news program the fifth estate, broadcast in February 1996.

The scientists and physicians alleged that the investigative program was malicious, unfair and defamatory.

The Ontario Superior Court of justice awarded Dr. Frans Leenen nearly $1 million in April 2000. In another case, the Ontario Superior Court ordered the CBC to pay Toronto cardiologist Dr. Martin Myers $200,000 in December 1999.

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Reform Party has no cover for Web-site libel case

 

The B.C. Supreme Court has denied the former Reform Party of Canada's claim for insurance coverage in a libel case filed by Senator and former Teamsters union leader Ed Lawson.

Senator Lawson sued the party for libel over comments posted on its Web site.

Reform's insurer, the Western Union Insurance Company, denied coverage on the grounds that the policy excluded libel alleged to have occurred in the course of the insured's publishing activities.

Madam Justice Loo ruled that the Web-site content fell within the definition of "publishing," so no insurance was afforded by Western Union's policy.

The court also rejected Reform's claim that the "advertising injury" portion of the insurance policy covered the lawsuit. "Advertising injury" covers libel claims arising out of any type of advertising. However, Madam Justice Loo ruled that the Web page on which the libellous statements were published was not a form of advertising.

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Software company pays $3.7-million for celebrity privacy lawsuit

 

Corel, the Ottawa-based computer software company, and their insurers have settled a lawsuit with the Hollywood film star Hedy Lamarr.

An unauthorized image of Lamarr, created with CorelDRAW software, was the winner of a design contest. Unaware of the oversight, Corel used the image on their packaging and display material for CorelDRAW, which was marketed in Canada and around the world.

The cost of the negotiated settlement exceeded $3.7 million (US$2.5 million). Lamarr also granted Corel a five-year exclusive licence to continue to use the image.

Hedy Lamarr was one of the most popular actresses of her day. She died in January 2000 at the age of 86.

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Biathlete sues for unauthorized use of image

 

Myriam Bedard, the Canadian Olympic champion biathlete, is suing Wrigley Canada Inc., the chewing gum firm, and their advertising agency for $725,000. She claims that without her consent, Wrigley used a photograph of Bédard in a series of print ads and that the photo had been doctored to make her look ridiculous.

After the news of Bedard's lawsuit, the Canadian Press news agency, which supplied the original photo, said that they would also seek compensation for the unauthorized use of their image.

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Insurance executive gets record defamation award

 

This summer, a Winnipeg jury ruled that a former Manitoba cabinet minister must pay more than $2.6 million to the former President and CEO of Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation.

The court heard that after MPIC's Reinsurance Division disclosed a huge loss in its 1986 accounting year, the media questioned the minister outside the legislature. Reporters quoted his remarks defaming the plaintiff's reputation. The minister admitted criticizing the plaintiff's competence hut denied accusing him of dishonest practice.

The verdict ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff $500,000 in general damages, $1 million in aggravated damages, $500,000 in punitive damages and $660,000 as compensation for loss of business opportunities on the damages. We believe this is Canada's largest-ever award for defamation.

Lawyers for the defendant said they may appeal the ruling.

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Insurer to pay $1.1-million for e-mail libel

 

A British insurer has agreed to pay a £450,000 (Cdn$ 1.1 -million) out-of-court settlement to a rival insurer after employees spread damaging rumours about the competitor via the company's internal e-mail system.

This may be the first time a libel lawsuit involving e-mail has been brought in the U.K. by a corporate client. However, a lawyer who was involved in the dispute says it won't be the last. Although the case was settled out of court and no court op in- ion was issued, he says the case has established that a message sent by one employee to another within the same organization may be actionable if it contains defamatory statements about a third party.

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Paper pays for paparazzi pics

 

A popular Quebec tabloid paper has been ordered to pay $24,900 to a woman whose photo was published after she accompanied her husband to a court where he faced sex-crime charges.

The woman told the Quebec Superior Court that she felt traumatized when the photo ran in Photo-Police, a Montreal weekly which specializes in the coverage of sensational crimes. She said that she lost friends and her job and finally broke up with her husband.

The judge noted that the photographer said he didn't have time to line up the shot, but he admitted that the picture could have been trimmed.

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