2013 December 6

Rodrigues v. Rodrigues, 2013 ABQB 718

The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench awarded the plaintiff cleric $75,000 general damages and $50,000 aggravated damages against the defendant, a foreign lawyer, over false and defamatory allegations of serious misconduct in the foreign jurisdiction. The false allegations were made in blog postings and articles posted on the Internet as well as emails sent to the plaintiff’s new employer and colleagues in Alberta. The defendant had refused to retract and apologize. The Court noted that “posting the defamatory statements on the Internet …created the potential for ridicule and scorn by countless people who do not know the plaintiff.” The Court also granted the plaintiff an injunction prohibiting the defendant from publishing any further defamatory statements concerning the plaintiff and directing “[a]ny third parties, including any Internet service provider or site, who have published, posted or distributed or who have otherwise repeated the defamatory comments … to assist the Plaintiff and this Honourable Court in the enforcement of this injunction, including the removal of any defamatory comments about the Plaintiff from the Internet and any other form of publication or distribution …[including] any website, social media site, blog, usernet news groups, chat site, email or any other electronic means.“