May 7, 2024
Simán v. Eisenbrandt, 2024 BCCA 176

This appeal concerns the application of the BC PPPA to a defamation action. In the first action the SLAPP suit dismissed, and in the BCCA the appeal was dismissed.

The facts of this case relate to an investigation into the unsolved murder, in El Salvador in 1980, of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and a subsequent book published in 2017, naming the plaintiff in a context that could implicate him in the unsolved murder.

The significance of the case to the CMLA is the court’s “responsible communication” defence in an Anti-SLAPP/PPPA context, and a discussion of the law concerning “reportage” which outside of Grant has not received significant judicial attention in Canada.