Posted on 01/29/2014 7:14:41 AM PST by conniew
By Andrew Duffy, OTTAWA CITIZEN January 28, 2014
OTTAWA — The online political forum, Free Dominion, has shut down after a wholesale defeat in a libel case brought by Ottawa human rights lawyer Richard Warman.
A jury concluded that Warman was maliciously defamed by four commentators on Free Dominion, a website that bills itself as “the voice of principled conservatism.”
Warman has been awarded more than $127,000 in general damages, aggravated damages, punitive damages and court costs because of 41 defamatory statements published on the conservative website in 2007.
Warman rose to prominence during the past decade by using the Canadian Human Rights Act to shut down the websites of people spreading hate speech; it made him the target of free speech advocates in the conservative blogosphere, and on websites such as Free Dominion.
In a recently released decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Smith granted Warman a permanent injunction that prohibits Free Dominion from ever repeating “in any manner whatsoever” any of the 41 defamations.
The website’s operators, Connie and Mark Fournier, of Kingston, this week shut down freedominion.ca, saying they could not control what comments other people posted.
“By leaving the forum open and allowing people to comment, we’d be opening ourselves to a contempt-of-court charge,” Connie Fournier said Tuesday.
“If someone repeated one of those comments, we would be in trouble — and could even go to jail.”
The Fourniers have operated the website as a “labour of love” for the past 13 years.
“It’s really sad to be at the point where we have to shut down the political forum,” she said. “But we’ve come to the point where it would be crazy for us to keep it open: it would be too much of a risk.”
They have vowed to appeal the defamation case and have launched a campaign on Indiegogo.com to raise money for their legal costs. The campaign has so far raised $2,800 of its $25,000 goal.
The Warman case is among the first to address at trial what constitutes defamation in the caustic political blogosphere. It adds to case law that suggests the Internet does not shield anonymous posters from legal action if they wrongfully attack someone’s reputation.
On his website, Warman said the case offers lessons for anyone involved in an Internet blog or forum. Chief among them, he said, is the idea that “If you make a mistake, admit it, repair the harm, and move on.”
Connie Fournier, however, said that if the case stands on appeal it will impair the once vibrant Canadian blogosphere.
“I think this is a terrible thing for free speech on the Internet,” she said. “When people who are allowing comments on their blogs and forums look at humongous costs and damage rulings like this, at injunctions that could put them in jail, they’re not going to want to take the risk of opening their site.”
The jury found that the four defendants — Roger Smith, Jason Bertucci, Connie and Mark Fournier — had been “malicious, high-handed and oppressive” in their conduct. Justice Smith also found the defendants had acted unreasonably by refusing to accept Warman’s offer to settle the case for $5,000 each.
Warman had to fight in court to obtain the identifies of those anonymous posters who had left defamatory comments on Free Dominion. The case dragged on for six years, culminating in a three-week trial before a six-person jury.
The Fourniers have never apologized or issued a retraction about the statements found to be defamatory.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
“...malicious, high handed and oppressive statements...”
IOW, the truth.
Mark Steyn wrote about this the other day. We were very grateful for his supportive words because, at that point, nobody in our media had said anything at all.
Midway down the page here: http://www.steynonline.com/6049/slapp-the-week
The comments were closed on the Ottawa Citizen article. Everyone is terrified.
Did the “defamation” consist of speaking the truth about the complainant?
“maliciously defamed”
For exposing the TRUTH?!!?
Like Mark said, we will literally go to prison for contempt of court if we repeat the actual comments.
But, I can say that it was negative commentary on the activities of a public servant, and it was not unlike any political comments you would find in any forum anywhere on the internet.
wow...now I really believe Canada SUX.
my gosh, I just read it. It sounds like complete and utter madness! Let’s just shut down the entire internet because someone might actually say something!
BTTT
What do leftist message boards do up there? Are all messages on all boards moderated before publishing?
This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. Not good. Not good at all.
Thanks for fighting the good fight...
What a damned shame...
Bookmark
This assclown made himself a public figure. In the US, proving libel against a public figure is difficult, and requires either “actual malice” or wanton and willful disregard for veracity. And in both cases, truth is an absolute defense.
Well, come on down across that border! We're in this together. Patriots gather wherever there's a free beacon.
ANYTHING negative is considered to be defamatory under Ontario defamation law.
One of the posts that was held against us was by an anonymous poster who used a made-up word from South Park.
Thanks for fighting the good fight, eh. 8)
Thank you. We’re touched. :-)
Are there any alternative options or workarounds available to get you up and running again?
Like bringing your forum back up on an offshore located server(s)? Somewhere that the Canadian Gvt has no jurisdiction? Or because the forum owners (you) are Canadian nationals would the legal system there still be able to restrict or otherwise prevent you from having such a site?
You've got to be kidding me. Every site in the world could be prosecuted for the same thing.
For those who don't know Free Dominion is our sister site up north. They've bailed us out when we've had server issues.
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