2011 October 27

Baglow v Smith, 2011 ONSC 6382

The Ontario Superior Court rejected the plaintiff’s submissions that the defendants, who had obtained a summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff’s libel claims, should be entitled to no costs (or only nominal costs) “on a public interest basis that an action in defamation involving Internet blogging raised a novel point of law and a novel fact situation.” The Court awarded costs to the defendants but reduced their fees to 50 per cent of the amount claimed on the basis of other conventional factors.