2023 April 24

Seafarer’s International Union of Canada v. Mitchelitis, 2023 ONSC 2456

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice, assessing defamation damages pursuant to a judgment in default of defence, awarded the plaintiff union $50,000 general damages and $25,000 punitive damages over four defamatory statements.  Three of the defamatory statements were made in posts to the defendant’s public Facebook account; one to the plaintiff’s public Facebook account.  “It is difficult to categorize the defendant’s actions in this case as a ‘campaign’ against the SIU.  Rather, it was the repetition of the same initial lie on a few occasions.”  Punitive damages were awarded based on the Court’s finding that the defendant is “shameless, unapologetic and ungovernable.”  In awarding substantial indemnity costs to the plaintiff, the Court found that the defendant had engaged in egregious conduct that requires denunciation by the Court, including repeating the defamatory statements over the course of the legal proceedings rather than apologizing or withdrawing them.