2005 September 16

Burke v. NYP Holdings, Inc., 2005 BCSC 1287

Alleged Cyber Libel: Website posting
Non-Internet Defamation Also Alleged: Yes – printed matter in Ontario and Quebec; also re-publication by a Vancouver radio talk show [not named as defendant]
Canadian court has jurisdiction? Yes
Canadian court should decline jurisdiction? No

The British Columbia Supreme Court held that it has jurisdiction to hear a defamation claim brought by former Vancouver Canucks general manager Brian Burke against the New York Post over a February 27, 2005 column published in the New York Post, less than 250 copies of which were delivered in hard copy to subscribers or newsstands in Canada (none in British Columbia). There were approximately 3,500 “hits” on the website page containing the column. The New York Post had “no method to determine the geographic origin of the hits or the geographic location of any of the individuals directing their browsers to access the website.” A Vancouver radio sports talk show host, however, testified he personally accessed the subject column and “read a large excerpt of that column on the air.”

The BC Supreme Court held that the New York Post, by “publishing on its website a matter which was of interest to people in British Columbia …it was foreseeable that the Column would be picked up by the media in British Columbia given the [prior] publicity” surrounding an incident which took place during a Canucks game in Vancouver.

The Court also held that British Columbia is the appropriate forum for this cyber libel lawsuit.

See McConchie and Potts, Canadian Libel and Slander Actions, “Jurisdiction simpliciter,” page 147, “Forum Non Conveniens,” pages 152, 153; “Where did the wrong take place,” page 157.