1999 November 30

Henry v. Stockhouse Media Corp., [1999] B.C.J. No. 3202

The British Columbia Supreme Court granted an ex parte injunction restraining for one week the publication of certain anonymous postings on internet websites operated by a British Columbia company and a U.S.A. company. “… I consider it inappropriate to grant an injunction which will endure until trial, with the right in the defendants and the anonymous writers only to apply to set aside the injunction. It is my view that the injunction should be for as brief a period of time as is reasonable, with an obligation on the part of the plaintiffs to apply for the injunction to be extended.” The Court also granted the plaintiff leave to apply for an extension of the injunction. After noting that the “Court will be as cautious as it is possible to be, more than extremely cautious, in restraining persons from exercising their right to free speech,” the judge stated that what led him to the conclusion that the brief ex parte injunction should be granted is that the statements complained of were anonymous. The judge expressed concern that one anonymous poster “feels free to throw around accusations of the most serious kind behind the cowardly screen of an alias.”