2015 October 13

Mann v. Elphick, 2015 BCSC 1853

The British Columbia Supreme Court granted an application by the plaintiff for leave to use certain documents obtained in the discovery process in motor vehicle litigation to commence a separate lawsuit in the British Columbia Supreme Court for defamation against KB and unknown persons. In the discovery process, the plaintiff had been given copies of anonymous, defamatory emails to an insurance adjuster for Great West Life, which had in turn forwarded the defamatory information to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. The Court concluded that the plaintiff should be relieved from his implied undertaking to the Court to use discovery information solely for the purpose of the litigation in which it was disclosed to the plaintiff. The Court stated that the public interest favoured relief so the information could be used in the proposed defamation litigation; that “the defamer should not be permitted to hide behind the protection of an implied undertaking rule.“