2013 July 26

Northwest Organics, Limited Partnership v. Maguire, 2013 BCSC 1328

The British Columbia Supreme Court dismissed an application by the defendants for an order dismissing the corporate plaintiffs’ defamation action as a “strategic lawsuit against public participation” (“SLAPP”). The documents alleged to be defamatory included an environmental study, two pamphlets and certain “online material” which was published on a website, but at the time of this hearing was “no longer accessible”. The plaintiffs had not yet delivered particulars regarding the words complained of in this “online material.”

The Court held that the defendants were proposing a wholesale, substantive change to the law of defamation, not simply changes to procedural rules of civil practice. Such a change would normally be undertaken by the legislature, or by higher courts with a full evidentiary record. “Under the substantive law of defamation, the plaintiffs, as corporate entities, have a right to protect their reputation: Home Equity Development Inc. v Crow, 2004 BCSC 124 at para. 183, Quijano J. Every defamation law suit has some dampening effect on speech. I cannot see how inherent jurisdiction can or should be used to change the substantive laws of defamation under the guise of a procedural change meant to protect the processes of the courts and the integrity of the judicial system. … Moreover, the Rules already protect against abusive litigation. If the plaintiffs’ claim proves baseless after a trail on the merits, those actions can be addressed through costs, as was done in Scory v Krannitz, 2011 BCSC 1344, 13 C.P.C. (7th) 118.”