2015 March 27

Self v. Baha’I, 2015 NSSC 94

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court allowed an application by the defendant to set aside an ex parte Order made by a Justice of the Peace under the Cyber-safety Act, which was proclaimed in effect in Nova Scotia on August 6, 2013. The Order made by the Justice of the Peace prohibited the defendant from directly or indirectly communicating with the plaintiff and from communicating to anyone else about the plaintiff and his companies. The Court noted that the evidence of events before August 2013, which the Justice of the Peace relied on, was irrelevant because the legislation was not retroactive. Moreover, the Cyber-safety Act contained a definition of “cyberbullying” which was inconsistently mild and would apply to the most innocuous conduct. The Court also noted that the plaintiff had since sued the defendant for defamation, and the defendant would be entitled to disclosure and discovery, to test the many allegations. The Order made by the Justice of the Peace, which the Court rescinded, was so broad it would have prohibited the defendant from communicating with the plaintiff about the defamation lawsuit.