The appellant appealed a Small Claims Court decision awarding $35,000 in defamation damages to each respondent after the appellant referred to them as 'House Negroes' in a blog post.
The appellant argued the trial judge should have recused himself for bias, erred in rejecting defences of fair comment and truth, and awarded excessive damages.
The Divisional Court dismissed the appeal, finding no reasonable apprehension of bias, upholding the trial judge's findings that the term was derogatory and not protected by fair comment, and concluding the damages were within a reasonable range given the respondents' public standing and the seriousness of the defamation.
