BC Court Awards Damages to Australian for Internet Libel

An Australian plaintiff, Robert Griffin, has been awarded damages by the British Columbia Supreme Court (Court) for libel and breach of privacy for comments published on web sites by the defendant, Patrick Michael Sullivan, between 2003 and 2008. The comments were part of a series of conflicting personal assertions by the parties against each other regarding statements made on an Internet user group for suicide support. Justice Halfyard found that the published statements were defamatory of the plaintiff in their natural and ordinary meaning and the defendant's submission that the statements were true and represented "fair comments" was rejected. Furthermore, it was found that Sullivan was in breach of BC's Privacy Act by posting Griffin's personal information without his consent. The Court awarded $100,000 in general damages, and $50,000 in aggravated damages for libel. Additionally, $25,000 in damages was awarded for breach of privacy, and $4,644 in special damages for the cost of psychological treatment. Interestingly, the court in this case simply accepted that the posting of the material on a web site was sufficient to constitute "publication" for the purposes of defamation. This may be contrasted with the recent decision Crookes v Yahoo (2008 BCCA 165). In that case, when defamatory statements were published on a user group site with restricted access, it was found by the BC Court of Appeal that that it could not be assumed, without proof, that the statements were read by someone in British Columbia and thus "publication" was not made out. For the full reasons for judgment in Griffin v Sullivan [2008] BCSC 827, see: http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2008/2008bcsc827/2008bcsc827.html For the Crookes v Yahoo decision (2008 BCCA 165), visit: http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcca/doc/2008/2008bcca165/2008bcca165.html Summary by: Lea Epstein