The plaintiff, a lawyer and board member of Villa Charities organizations, sued for defamation following publication of an article in Corriere Canadese criticizing the organizations' development proposal for a community centre site.
The defendants moved to dismiss the action under Ontario's anti-SLAPP provisions.
The court dismissed the motion, finding that while the article addressed a matter of public interest, the plaintiff established substantial merit to the defamation claim and that the defendants had no valid defences.
The court found the statements were defamatory, referred to the plaintiff, and were published.
The defences of justification, fair comment, and qualified privilege all failed.
The court also found the harm to the plaintiff's professional reputation and personal well-being was sufficiently serious to outweigh the public interest in protecting the defendants' expression.