2022 January 14

Pratte v. Editions de Montagne, 2022 QCCQ 91

The Quebec Court (Civil Chamber) dismissed a defamation counterclaim by the defendant publisher against the plaintiff over the latter’s disparaging posts on her Facebook page and a GoFundMe site.  Nothing the plaintiff published on Facebook identified the defendant as the subject of her posts.  The plaintiff’s post on GoFundMe (seeking financial help to sue the defendant) expressly named the defendant publisher but was held not to be defamatory.  The plaintiff’s request for funding contained only a minimum level of detail about her claims against the defendant publisher.  The Court further held that in any event the publisher had failed to prove the plaintiff’s posts caused any damages.