2020 April 24

Hawkins v. Jamieson, 2020 NBQB 83

The New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench awarded the plaintiff $7,500 general damages over a Facebook post held to be defamatory which appeared on the Internet for one day and did not expressly name the plaintiff.  The Court noted that three Facebook “friends” of the defendant had sworn that he or she read the Facebook post and concluded the post was referring to the plaintiff as the “50/50” business partner.  The Court also stated that “there is evidence that many of [the plaintiff’s] Facebook friends read the post.  Some commented on the post by responding with a Facebook reaction, i.e. an angry face or similar emoji character.  Some expressly made comments.”