2016 October 25

Lisbona v. Postmedia Network Inc., 2016 QCCS 5117

The Quebec Superior Court dismissed the plaintiff’s application for a pre-trial injunction against two of the individual defendants which would have required them to disable and remove from the Internet any publications about the plaintiff on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other websites.

The Court noted that such interlocutory relief is rarely granted for alleged defamation under Quebec law, which establishes the following necessary conditions precedent: (a) the discretionary power to issue such an injunction must be exercised with extreme care; (b) the injunction should not be granted except in rare and clear circumstances; (c) the expression complained of must be clearly defamatory; (d) the harm caused by the expression must be irreparable; and (e) the defence of truth must be bound to fail.  The authorities supporting this proposition include Champagne v College d’enseignment general et professionel de Jonquiere, [1997] R.J.Q. 2395 (CA); (HRC) v Canadian Liberty Net, [1998] 1 SCR 626; and Prud’homme v Rawdon (Municipalite de), 2010 QCCA 584.