2018 August 30

Armstrong v. Corus Entertainment Inc.,  2018 ONCA 689 

The Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed this libel action as a SLAPP pursuant to s. 137.1 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43.   The plaintiff city councillor claimed against the unsuccessful candidate and her campaign team as well as a local radio station over remarks made during a municipal election, including remarks contained in Facebook posts and tweets.  The Court of Appeal held that the lower court had erred by attributing various statements made by the individual defendants to them as a group: “Liability is personal, absent evidence that the tortious conduct is the product of a conspiracy or common design.” This error also invalidated the assessment of harm.

Although claims against the defendant candidate and one member of her campaign team had substantial merit, the “public interest” analysis under s. 137.1(4)(b) of the Courts of Justice Act required those claims be dismissed.  Few people viewed the Facebook posts and the plaintiff “demonstrated virtually no harm, actual or potential, flowing to him from [the] tweets.”  “[T]here was almost no evidence of any special damage.”  “[T]he plaintiff’s] continued electoral success strongly suggests that any harm to his reputation was minimal.  Any award for general damages would be modest to minimal to reflect the minimal impact on his reputation.” “[T]he message to be taken from the enactment of s. 137.1 is that not every step over the defamatory foul line warrants dragging the offender through the litigation process.”