Marcus Klee

The plaintiff, a prominent lawyer and political activist, brought a defamation action against the defendant, an internet broadcaster, over videos alleging the plaintiff was a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic extremism.

The plaintiff moved for summary judgment.

The court found the case appropriate for summary judgment, holding that the defendant's statements were defamatory and that the defences of fair comment and responsible communication failed because the statements were presented as facts, lacked a factual foundation, and were made with malice and reckless disregard for the truth.

The court awarded the plaintiff $500,000 in general and aggravated damages and granted a permanent injunction requiring the removal of the videos and prohibiting the defendant from making further statements about the plaintiff.

The plaintiff commenced defamation actions against the defendants regarding online broadcasts and internet postings.

A summary judgment motion was scheduled for September 21, 2021.

On September 10, 2021, the defendant retained new counsel, who requested a brief adjournment to prepare a new factum and provide proper representation.

The court denied the adjournment request, finding that the defendant provided no explanation for the late retention of counsel, the plaintiff would be prejudiced by further delay as the alleged defamatory postings remained online, and the administration of justice would not be served by a last-minute adjournment.

The Canadian respondents brought a motion to set aside an ex parte Mareva injunction that froze their assets worldwide.

They argued the injunction should be set aside due to material non-disclosure by the applicants and insufficient evidence of their involvement in the alleged $71.7 million fraud or risk of dissipation.

The court dismissed the motion to set aside, finding no material non-disclosure and sufficient evidence of knowing receipt of misappropriated funds and risk of dissipation.

However, the court varied the order to release funds for the respondents' living and legal expenses.

The court also granted a sealing order over the transcripts of the respondents' compelled examinations to protect their rights against self-incrimination in light of a criminal investigation in Iran.

The respondents' request for security for the applicants' undertaking as to damages was denied.