2018 August 9

White v. Zed, 2018 NBQB 176

The New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench (Trial Division) awarded $35,000 in general damages and $10,000 punitive damages to the plaintiff lawyer over defamatory accusations made by the defendant on Facebook.  The Court held the accusations were “simply outrageous, scandalous and reprehensible” and said there was “not a shred of evidence” to support them.  The plaintiff did not tender any evidence he lost clients or that his business income had decreased because of the defamation.  The Court was not told how long the accusations were published or how many times the Facebook posts were shared.  The plaintiff did obtain a pre-trial injunction quickly after he became aware of the accusations, and the posts disappeared after a few days.  No finding of malice was made against the defendant.