2013 January 11

Gravel v. Lifesitenews.com (Canada), 2013 QCCS 36

The Superior Court of Quebec dismissed a pre-trial application by one of the defendants, a journalist, to strike out elements of the plaintiff’s claim for damages relating to the publication of 39 allegedly defamatory articles in a monthly bulletin posted on the defendant’s Internet website. The defendant journalist alleged the claim against him was outside the one year limitation period for claims based on injury to reputation. The Court noted that a previous Court ruling had rejected the substance of that application. The Court also noted that the plaintiff sought damages for invasion of privacy, which is not subject to the one year limitation.

The Court also refused to decline jurisdiction over the action. The judge noted: (i) the individual defendants were domiciled in Ontario; and (ii) the litigation had been proceeding for some time and was substantially advanced. At this late stage, the Court should not be asked to decline jurisdiction. Further, such an Order was not justified in all the circumstances. Residence of the defendants is only one of the factors to be considered. The plaintiff was seeking recovery of damages only in respect of injury to his reputation in Quebec. [Rough translation from French]: “….[I]n a world of widespread Internet communication, accessible across borders, the most significant geographic location in such litigation is the one where the damage has been suffered.”