The Manitoba Court of Appeal has overturned a $1.6 million defamation ruling against the CBC in what one lawyer says is a “dramatic affirmation” of a crucial defamation defence for journalists.
Following a news report in which the investment advisor’s former client accused him of losing more than $300,000 of his retirement savings, Kenneth Muzik brought a defamation claim against the CBC and one of its reporters, Gosia Sawicka. Muzik was successful at trial and awarded $1.6 million in total damages.
The Manitoba Court of Appeal has allowed the CBC’s and Sawicka’s appeal. The case turned on the responsible communications defence.
As an appeal court decision overturning the result of a defamation trial with a media defendant, Muzik v Canadian Broadcasting Corporation et al, 2023 MBCA 95 was a rare case, says Andrea Gonsalves, counsel for the appellants and a partner at Stockwoods LLP.
Responsible communication is an important and still-evolving defamation defence critical to the media’s ability to report on matters of public interest, adds Justin Safayeni, counsel for the appellant and a Stockwoods partner.
“The decision is, in a sense, an important and dramatic affirmation that the responsible communication defence serves an important purpose in Canadian defamation law,” says Safayeni. He says the ruling provides guidance on how the defence operates and how courts should approach the responsible communication analysis.
In Peter Grant, et al. v. Torstar Corporation, et al., the Supreme Court of Canada created the defence of responsible communication to modify defamation law to provide more protection for communications on matters of public interest, said Justice Marc Monnin, who wrote the reasons for the appeal court panel. Defendants can use the defence if they can show their publication of defamatory material was responsible and that they exercised diligence “in trying to verify the allegations having regard to all the circumstances.” Defendants cannot use it when they demonstrate malice toward the plaintiff.
https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/general/cbc-wins-manitoba-defamation-appeal-with-responsible-communication-defence/382204
