2021 October 21

Soliman v. Bordman, 2021 ONSC 7023

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded the plaintiff $500,000 as general and aggravated damages for defamation in relation to “statements … video streamed across the Internet from a newsroom studio at TAG TV and from the [defendants’] family home on various Internet social media and alternative news media.”  The Court stated that “[t]he responsibility for the harm caused by the vile and deplorable Internet postings aroused by [the defendant’s] statements and not removed by him rests with [the defendant]. The indeterminate nature of Internet defamatory pollution is an aggravating factor intensifying the indignities, breaches of privacy, and harm caused by [the defendant’s] defamatory statements.”  The Court also ordered a sweeping  injunction prohibiting the defendant from publishing any statements concerning the plaintiff and not just defamatory statements.  The Court explained that the plaintiff is concerned that the defendant does not have the ability to differentiate between non-defamatory statements and defamatory ones or the ability to differentiate between defamatory statements and defamatory statements that are defensible as fair comment or responsible communication. “If I were to only enjoin [the defendant] from making defamatory statements about [the plaintiff], there would just be another run of litigation or contentious contempt motions about whether the comment was defamatory or a fair comment. This is in neither party’s interest.”