2018 June 21

Sunshine Village Corp. v. Chevalier, 2018 ABQB 484

The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench rejected a defence application for a summary dismissal of this defamation action concerning posts on Facebook and elsewhere.    The defendants admitted that the statements at issue were published, primarily on the internet, and clearly referred to the plaintiffs.  The defendants argued, unsuccessfully, that the posts complained of were not defamatory.  The Court considered that the reactions of others to the various internet posts showed they were defamatory.  “The vitriolic nature of many of the reactions … leads me to question whether they can be said to have come from reasonable and fair-minded people.  Nevertheless, they manifest damage to the [plaintiffs’] public reputations…”  The Court also concluded that factual disputes  prevented the Court from evaluating the defences of justification, fair comment and responsible communication without the testimony of witnesses and an assessment of their credibility at trial.