2017 January 26

Thompson v. Cohodes, 2017 ONSC 2590

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed an application by the defendant, a former hedge fund manager, to dismiss this defamation lawsuit pursuant to s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act.  The court held that although the management of publicly traded corporations is a matter of public interest, a serious unsupported allegation against the plaintiff relating to alleged actions a decade earlier, when the plaintiff was a lawyer, lead the court to conclude that the public interest in permitting the plaintiff to proceed outweighed the public interest in protecting the defendant’s expression.  The court held that there were reasonable grounds to believe the substantial requirements of the plaintiff’s claim in libel are satisfied, and that there are reasonable grounds to believe there is no valid defence.  In this case, the alleged libel was part of a national television broadcast and was available on the internet.  After the issuance of the statement of claim, the defendant made further public statements about the plaintiff on Twitter to an audience of approximately 7,000 followers.