2023 December 3

Herman v. Zajdel, 2023 QCCS 5251

The Quebec Superior Court awarded the plaintiff $200,000 defamation damages over posts made by the defendant on social media and accusations contained in a self-published book sold on Amazon and Kindle.  The Court held that the power of the pen cannot be exercised in a complete vacuum, to the detriment of others; that this includes destroying a person’s reputation with serious accusations.  Referring to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Hill v Church of Scientology of Canada, the Court held there is no constitutional value in false statements of fact.  The Court also granted an injunction requiring the defendant to remove her self-published book from circulation and sale in its current version.