2018 August 30

Veneruzzo v. Storey, 2018 ONCA 688

The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s refusal to dismiss this action as a SLAPP pursuant to s. 137.1 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C 43.   The claims concerned Facebook posts about a motor vehicle accident.  The defendant had failed to demonstrate, as required by s. 137.1(3), that his Facebook posts related to matters of “public interest” as that term is defined in Grant v Torstar Corp. 2009 SCC 61.  There is a “distinction between matters of public interest and a matter that, because of its notoriety, might be of some interest to the public.” “A defendant who makes statements about a purely private matter cannot gain the protection of s. 137.1(3) by interspersing references to some other topic that may relate to a matter of public interest.”    “[To] the extent that the public interest does not rise about ‘mere curiosity or prurient interest’, it cannot satisfy the public interest requirement…”