2008 October 20

Warman v. Grosvenor, [2008] O.J. No. 4462

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded the plaintiff Warman, a lawyer employed by the Government of Canada, damages capped at $50,000 for defamation and assault. The defamation was contained in Internet postings “published throughout Canada and the world by way of Google website groups, Mailgate website groups and others” on servers located in California, Italy and Germany.

The Court accepted that the plaintiff had proven “publication” (an essential element of the cause of action) stating:  “The Internet is a means of publication like no other, given its ability to instantaneously send words throughout the world to the millions who have access to computers. The defendant has caused defamatory words to be communicated to others by the Postings and each time he has re-posted the same defamatory words in the Postings, he has created a new publishing of those words.”

Because the plaintiff brought these proceedings under the “simplified” Rules of Court,  he could not recover damages in excess of $50,000 for all causes of action. Although the Court agreed that a total amount of $175,000 would be the appropriate amount for general and aggravated damages, it therefore awarded only the $50,000 maximum comprised as follows:  $20,000 general damages for defamation, $10,000 aggravated damages for defamation, $15,000 general damages for assault, and $5,000 aggravated damages for assault.