2023 October 4

7923092 Canada Ltd. v. 9397-2248 Quebec inc., 2023 QCCS 3837

The Quebec Superior Court awarded defamation damages aggregating $60,000 over posts by the defendant (a business competitor of the corporate plaintiff) on the “Google My Business” platform.  Defamatory posts involving a fake notice under a pseudonym impugned the corporate plaintiff’s billing practices.   The defendant also created a fake Google profile impersonating the individual plaintiff BP and used it to submit disparaging, false “reviews” of various other companies in the same industry. The court held the false reviews demeaned the innocent competitors and sowed discord.  Accordingly, the Court found that usurping the identities of the individual plaintiffs to sow discord was more serious than simply making a false post under a fake name to attack the corporate plaintiff.  In the circumstances, the court awarded $5,000 moral damages and $5,000 punitive damages to the corporate plaintiff.  The individual plaintiff BP was awarded $15,000 moral damages and $15,000 punitive damages.  The individual plaintiff FB was awarded $10,000 moral damages and $10,000 punitive damages.