July 17, 2013
Unrau v. McSween 2013 BCCA 343
The plaintiff appealed from an order dismissing his defamation action for want of prosecution. The appeal from the dismissal of the action was dismissed on the grounds that the chambers judge made no reviewable error ...

July 15, 2013
Nu Fibre Inc. v. Ishkanian 2013 BCSC 1255
In this defamation action, the Defendant, Ishkanian, relied upon the defences of justification, qualified privilege, fair comment on a matter of public interest, and responsible communication. Grauer J. ruled in favour of the Defendant on ...

July 12, 2013
Kwok v Canada (NSERC) 2013 ABQB 395
Dr. Daniel Kwok is an associate professor at the University of Calgary. Between 2001 and 2005, the University of Alberta employed Dr. Kwok as an assistant professor. Since 2001, Dr. Kwok has received research grants ...

July 5, 2013
Toor v. Harding 2013 BCSC 1202
In this defamation action, the Vancouver Sun appealed a lower court ruling in which they had asked for words to be pruned from a notice of civil claim, and which had been dismissed. The decision of the ...

June 28, 2013
Guergis v. Novak 2013 ONCA 449
With one exception, the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed with the lower court that "the statements and letters upon which the allegations of defamation are based are either not capable of being defamatory or are protected by absolute privilege." The Court struck torts pleaded in the alternative to defamation on the basis that they were “dressed up” defamation. The Court also upheld a claim for absolute privilege for communications between officers of state (it is only the second decision in Canada which has applied this privilege), and the Court held that a statement in which someone is alleged to have engaged in criminal conduct is not defamatory.