2024 October 29

Landon v. McMahon, 2024 CanLII 103673 (ON SCSM)

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Small Claims Court) awarded the plaintiff retired law enforcement officer $10,000 general damages for defamation relating to the defendant’s email to the a municipal Board of Variance. In the course of determining whether the language of the email was defamatory, the Court relied on definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary and Wikipedia. The court held that the email accusations should not be made lightly without supporting evidence.