2017 March 7

S.R. v. L.R., 2017 ONSC 1484

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the defendants leave to appeal [to the Divisional Court] from interlocutory (pre-trial) injunctions requiring them to remove nbsp;websites and other publications from the Internet and prohibiting further statements about the plaintiff.  The Chambers judge applied the standard test for pre-trial injunctive relief in civil cases, which is expressed in RJR MacDonald Inc. v Canada, [1994] 1 S.C.R. 311 rather than the more stringent test commonly applied in libel cases which is found in Canada (HRC) v Canadian Liberty Net, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 626. In the latter case, Bastarache J. stated for the majority that “interlocutory injunctions should only be granted to restrain in advance written or spoken words in the rarest and clearest of cases – where the words are so manifestly defamatory and impossible to justify that an action in defamation would almost certainly succeed.” In granting leave, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice noted that if the test in Canadian Liberty Net were applied, there was a real likelihood the injunctions would not have been granted.