2008 July 14

Lorch v. McHale, [2008] O.J. No. 2807

In this ruling, the Ontario Superior Court ordered the consolidation for trial of two lawsuits for defamation arising out of an Aboriginal land claims dispute in Caledonia, Ontario. One of the two lawsuits involved libel claims by twenty-two police officers over certain postings about the Ontario Provincial Police on a website operated by McHale. The court also struck out a counterclaim by McHale alleging that Ontario’s Provincial Police Chief was guilty of the tort of unlawful “maintenance” of litigation because of his public statement that he would arrange for the O.P.P. to financially support the lawsuit against McHale.  The court noted that the Police Services Act grants statutory authority for the plaintiff police officers to be reimbursed at the end of litigation if they acted in good faith.  Furthermore, the statement by the Police Chief fell short of “stirring up” litigation and the Police Chief could not be considered guilty of “officious intermeddling” in matters that did not concern him.