Aliyyah Jafri

The applicant securities exchange sought an interlocutory injunction to restrain the respondent from publishing defamatory statements on social media and harassing its employees.

The respondent, a shareholder and publisher, had engaged in a campaign accusing the applicant and its personnel of fraud, corruption, and other criminal conduct.

The court found the statements clearly defamatory and concluded that defences of justification or fair comment would inevitably fail.

The court granted the injunction, prohibiting the respondent from contacting the applicant's employees and from making further defamatory statements pending the hearing of the application.

The defendants sought costs after successfully moving to strike portions of the plaintiffs' statement of claim.

The court noted that the motion was essentially a demand for particulars and that the plaintiffs' pleadings were defective.

However, the court criticized the high costs incurred by both sides for a motion that could have been resolved through cooperation.

The court ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' costs in the cause on a partial indemnity basis, fixed at $20,000.