2019 October 29

Slater Vecchio LLP v. Arvanitis, 2019 BCCA 481

The British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed an application by the defendant for an extension of time to appeal three orders of the BC Supreme Court made in the context of a defamation action over online postings. The Court of Appeal noted that the defendant, after losing a lawsuit against the plaintiff, “posted extremely negative comments …. on various online review and social media platforms, including on personal accounts belonging to … employees of [the plaintiff] and the children of a partner of at the firm.” After being granted an interlocutory injunction, the plaintiff “discovered additional content posted online by [the defendant] and learned she had not removed the earlier content as ordered.”  The defendant was found guilty of contempt and ordered “to immediately remove the previously posted online content immediately.”  That order was not appealed. Subsequently, the plaintiff was granted summary judgment against the defendant and obtained a permanent injunction against the defendant.  The defendant raised no legal defence to the defamation claim at the summary judgment application.  An extension for time to appeal was refused because all three proposed appeals were bound to fail.