2025 March 31

Pineau v. Glacier Media Inc., 2025 BCCA 101 [varying 2024 BCSC 4]

The Court of Appeal of British Columbia increased from $180,000 to $330,000 an award of special damages to the plaintiff for loss of a specific employment opportunity as a consequence of a defamatory article in the print and online editions of Business in Vancouver, a publication of the defendant Glacier Media Inc.  The trial judge’s award of $72,000 to the plaintiff for general damages was left undisturbed.

The subject article was published in the print edition and on the BIV website on January 20, 2015.  The online edition included a photograph of the plaintiff.  Although the online article was removed on July 13, 2021, two subsets of three subscription categories of paid subscribers had access to electronic pdf copies of past issues, including the defamatory article.  Although the defendant apologized, “it did so too late to have any mitigating effect on the [plaintiff’s] problems finding employment.”