2026 May 28

Davies v. Butts, 2026 ONSC 3127

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded each plaintiff (husband and wife) the sum of $12,500 general damages for defamatory statements published by the defendant in a livestream on his YouTube channel while about 118 people were watching.   Although the statement of claim sought $75,000, the Court awarded only modest damages on the basis there was no evidence anyone believed the defamatory comments until they saw the “apology” video published by the defendant to comply with the plaintiffs’ demand.   The court concluded the plaintiffs “either advertently or unintentionally (sic) drawn more eyes to the defamation than the defendant, by virtue of [the plaintiffs’ own] tweets and podcasts.”