2016 April 1

John v. Ballingall, 2016 ONSC 2245

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed an action as statute-barred on the basis that the plaintiff had failed to meet the notice requirements of section 5(1) of the Ontario Libel and Slander Act, RSO 1990, c. L12 and on the basis of the plaintiff’s failure to issue his statement of claim within the 3 month limitation period under section 6 of the same statute. The Court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that the notice provision in s. 5(1) and the 3 month limitation period in s. 6 apply only to hard copy newspapers and not to electronically posted information. The court concluded that “the weight of the jurisprudence favours the view that an internet posting or broadcast is covered by the Libel and Slander Act, unless specific facts dictate otherwise.” The Court stated that other cases, “without delving into the question of whether the Libel and Slander Act applies to an internet posting or broadcast, have accepted, implicitly, the statute does apply” and refered in this regard to “Janssen-Ortho Inc. v Amgen Canada Inc., [2005] O.J. No. 2265 (C.A.) involving an internet re-broadcast of a radio interview; CIPW v Quebecor Media Inc., 2016 ONCA 206, involving a Toronto Sun internet broadcast, web blog posting and paper edition; and World Sikh Organization of Canada v CBC, 2007 CarswellOnt 7649 (SCJ) involving a television broadcast, radio broadcast, internet broadcast and internet article.“