Emma K. Romano

The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed Windrift Adventures Incorporated’s appeal from the dismissal of its defamation action under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The court found no error in the motion judge’s conclusion that the action lacked substantial merit and that the harm suffered was not sufficiently serious to outweigh the public interest in protecting the respondents’ expression.

The court also rejected the appellant’s argument that a finding of “abuse” is required for dismissal under s. 137.1, clarifying that the test remains as set out in Pointes Protection Association.

The appellants, a newspaper publisher and his company, appealed the dismissal of their defamation and other tort claims against city councillors, school trustees, and media entities under Ontario's anti-SLAPP legislation (s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act).

The appellants had published articles critical of the Toronto Catholic District School Board's LGBTQ2S+ policies, using derogatory language.

The respondents, in turn, took action to have the City of Toronto cease advertising in the appellants' newspaper, alleging the articles promoted homophobia and transphobia.

The motion judge dismissed the action, finding the respondents' expressions related to a matter of public interest and that the appellants failed to show their claims had substantial merit or that the respondents had no valid defence (specifically, fair comment).

The Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal, agreeing that the fair comment defence was viable, and that the appellants' constitutional arguments regarding freedom of expression and religious protection were without merit.

The appeal on costs was also dismissed.

Following the successful dismissal of the plaintiffs' defamation action under the anti-SLAPP provisions of the Courts of Justice Act, the moving party defendants sought their costs.

The plaintiffs argued that the court should apply the appropriateness exception under s. 137.1(7) to award partial indemnity costs instead of the presumptive full indemnity costs.

The court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments, finding no basis to depart from the full indemnity presumption, and awarded the defendants their costs on a full indemnity basis (and substantial indemnity for one defendant on a pro bono retainer), totaling over $383,000.

The plaintiffs, a newspaper publisher and his company, brought an action for defamation, misfeasance in public office, inducing breach of contract, and wrongful interference with economic relations against several city councillors, school board trustees, and a media company.

The action arose from statements made by the defendants criticizing articles published by the plaintiffs as homophobic and transphobic, and advocating for the cessation of city advertising in the plaintiffs' newspaper.

The defendants brought motions under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act to dismiss the action as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP).

The court granted the motions, finding that the defendants' expressions related to matters of public interest.

While the defamation claim had substantial merit, the plaintiffs failed to establish that the other claims had merit, and failed to show that the defendants had no valid defences, including fair comment, qualified privilege, and responsible communication.

Furthermore, the court found that the public interest in protecting the defendants' expression outweighed any harm suffered by the plaintiffs.

The defendants brought a motion to enforce a settlement agreement in a defamation action.

The plaintiffs argued that the settlement required the defendants to post an apology on their homepage or make it searchable on their internal search facility, rather than just on a dedicated URL.

The court found the terms of the settlement clear and unambiguous, noting that the defendants had complied by posting the apology on a dedicated URL as agreed.

The court granted the motion, enforced the settlement, and dismissed the plaintiffs' actions.

The plaintiffs sued airlines for significant losses, including the loss of a traditional title and the death of their daughter, after Lawrence Mpamugo was denied entry to the United States, preventing them from taking their booked flights to Nigeria.

Defendant Delta Air Lines, Inc. moved to dismiss the claims for disclosing no reasonable cause of action.

The court found that the claims in contract and negligence were not supported by law, as airlines are not liable for passengers' immigration issues, and the Montreal Convention limits liability to damages occasioned by delay in carriage, not denial of entry.

The court dismissed the claims against Delta, allowing only a potential claim for a refund of unused tickets to be transferred to Small Claims Court.

The plaintiff, Core Insight Strategies Inc., brought a motion to amend its statement of claim to add several parties, including Dan Baril as a plaintiff and Erin Kelly, Kenton White, and Ken Rubin as defendants.

Ken Rubin opposed his addition, arguing that the proposed claims of defamation and intentional interference with economic relations, based on his freedom of information requests, were unmeritorious and constituted a "gag proceeding" under Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The Master granted the motion to add the other parties but dismissed the motion to add Ken Rubin, finding that his FOI requests could not be construed as specific allegations of wrongdoing and that allowing such claims would unduly prejudice the exercise of freedom of information rights and expression.

The plaintiff, Henry Lotin, brought two defamation actions against his brother-in-law Tomas Gregor and sister-in-law Andrea Gregor, seeking summary judgment, non-compensatory general damages, and an injunction.

The defendants also sought summary judgment.

The court dismissed the action against Tomas Gregor, finding that the alleged defamatory statements were not proven.

However, the court granted summary judgment in favour of Lotin against Andrea Gregor for two defamatory statements: one accusing Lotin of stealing from Agnes in a telephone conversation with Gabor, and another in a text message to Peter stating Lotin "ransacked" Agnes' condominium and "took things." Lotin was awarded $2,000 in general damages against Andrea Gregor.

The request for a permanent injunction was denied, as the court was not satisfied there was a likelihood of continued defamation.