Gavin H. Leitch

The defendant Township brought an anti-SLAPP motion under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act to dismiss the plaintiffs' action for defamation, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty.

The action arose after the Township posted unsolicited, unvetted, and allegedly defamatory public comments about the plaintiffs' proposed farm brewery on its website.

The court found the breach of fiduciary duty claim did not arise from an expression and could proceed.

The negligence claim was dismissed for lacking substantial merit.

The defamation claim was allowed to proceed, as the court found it had substantial merit, the Township's defences lacked a real prospect of success, and the public interest in allowing the claim to continue outweighed the public interest in protecting the unvetted, vitriolic public comments.

The defendants brought a preliminary motion to remove the plaintiff's counsel for an alleged conflict of interest and to amend their Statement of Defence to plead the Limitations Act.

The court allowed the amendment to the pleadings, finding no non-compensable prejudice to the plaintiff at this early stage.

However, the court dismissed the request to remove counsel, finding no evidence that counsel acquired confidential information relevant to the current litigation during a prior, unrelated retainer.