2013 October 28

McDonald v. Koe, 2013 NWTSC 81

The Northwest Territories Supreme Court awarded $100,000 general damages and $61,843.86 special damages to the former temporary Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) of a First Nations tribal council over defamatory allegations in a letter sent by the defendants, former employees of the tribal council, to approximately 30 people. The Court noted that the letter “was transmitted by electronic mail and as such it could be published to an even wider audience with relative ease. In choosing to use electronic distribution, the defendants created a significant risk of further publication beyond the intended recipients. Indeed, it wound up in the hands of both print and broadcast media outlets, both of which disseminated the allegations amongst an even larger audience.”