Fozia Chaudary

The plaintiff, an auction business, brought an action for defamation against the Crown Defendants and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) regarding statements made about the plaintiff's relationship with the federal government in selling seized gemstones.

The defendants brought motions to dismiss the action under the anti-SLAPP provisions of s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act.

The court found that the statements related to matters of public interest.

The court concluded that the plaintiff failed to show its claims had substantial merit against the Crown Defendants, failed to show the defendants had no valid defences (including qualified privilege and justification), and failed to establish that the harm it suffered outweighed the public interest in protecting the defendants' expressions.

The motions were granted and the action was dismissed.

The applicant brought an application claiming that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) seized funds from her father's accounts that rightfully belonged to her from an inheritance in Nigeria.

The father supported the application, contradicting his own previous sworn evidence that the funds were his own inheritance.

The court dismissed the application, finding no evidence that the father held the funds in trust for the applicant or that any identifiable funds belonging to the applicant were seized by the CRA.

The court awarded costs of $10,000 to the CRA, payable jointly and severally by the applicant and her father due to their complicity in bringing the misconceived application.

The Monitor in a CCAA proceeding sought to declare void as an unjust preference $12 million in HST payments made by the insolvent debtor to the Canada Revenue Agency shortly before commencing a proposal proceeding.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the payments were funded by an inter-company loan specifically earmarked for the tax liability, meaning the transaction was economically neutral to the debtor and did not prejudice the recovery of unsecured creditors.