2013 June 14

Images Turbo inc. c Marquis, 2013 QCCS 2781

The Quebec Superior Court dismissed a claim by the corporate plaintiff for damages relating to an allegedly defamatory email sent by the defendant, an ex-employee, to her husband and the plaintiff’s lawyer. The Court sustained an objection to the admissibility of the email to her ex-husband (on the grounds of invasion of privacy) and held there was no proof of damage arising from its communication to the lawyer, because the defendant and the lawyer were two people who worked closely together and spoke to one another about their working conditions. By the time of the trial, the lawyer had also left employment with the plaintiff. The email had been discovered on the defendant’s Blackberry, after she returned it to the ex-employer on departing the company.