2015 March 2

Ratte c. Bernes, 2015 QCCQ 2193

The Quebec Court (Civil Chamber) dismissed claims by the plaintiff, the owner of a towing company, against the defendant towing company operator, over postings on the latter’s Facebook page. The Court held the postings were not defamatory and, in any event, were accessible only to friends and family of the defendant, very few of whom reacted to any of the posts. There was no evidence from the plaintiff that any of his own clients had spoken to him about the posts, or that he had lost any business. In fact, the only post which the defendant admitted was inappropriate did not even identify the plaintiff.