2020 November 24

Sole Cleaning Inc. v. Chu, 2020 ONSC 7226

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed an application by the plaintiff for an interim injunction requiring the defendant, an ex-employee, to remove one specific allegation made in disparaging posts on Twitter and Instagram and to refrain from republishing them pending the trial.   When this motion was heard, a statement of defence had not yet been filed.  The Court noted the evidence of the defendant is that “she believes the posts to be true and intends to prove the truth at trial.  It is also her position that the posts are matters of fair comment or opinion.”  With respect to the plaintiff’s evidence, the Court noted that “since these posts were made, numerous negative comments were written by others” and the plaintiff “has also received threatening and hateful messages directly on its social media pages.”  “The company was also the subject of an article written on a Toronto blog” that detailed the defendant’s posts.  After reviewing the evidentiary record on the application, the Court concluded that “[t]his is not one of those clearest of cases where injunctive relief ought to be granted pending trial.”