2011 May 2

Froehlich v. Darling, 2011 ONSC 2674

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a defence application to stay this defamation lawsuit in favour of mediation and then arbitration. The plaintiff alleged in his statement of claim that in January 2010, the defendant sent two emails that were defamatory of him to all of the members of the club. The Court noted that “it is a reasonable inference from the language of the emails that the defendant wished to portray the plaintiff to the other members as an undesirable member of the club and an unworthy candidate for election to the club’s board of directors.” Concluding that the subject matter of the defamatory emails did not fall with the scope of a mandatory arbitration bylaw (which came into effect after the alleged libels), the Court stated: “The plaintiff’s right to sue in this court is not a right that should be lightly confiscated. Although people are entitled to oust the jurisdiction of this court by agreement, such agreements must be interpreted reasonably to give effect to the makers of the agreement.”