Defamation and Media

Experience

Examples of work done in defamation law and media law include:

• Successfully defended a $53-million defamation action involving an international mining project. (MonumentMining Ltd. Balendran, Chong & Bodi, 2012, BCSC 1769)
• Successful defence of a defamation claim alleging malice against three medical professionals in the context of their work in a specialized hospital team. (Lewis v. Abel and others, 2007 BCSC 604)
• A case involving a successful trial and appellate defence of a claim for defamation brought by one professional against others. (Schut v. Magee, 2003 BCCA 417)
• Successfully defended a $53-million defamation action involving an international mining project
• Represented both plaintiffs and defendants in defamation actions involving the print and online media
• Representing the BC Civil Liberties Assn. before the Supreme Court of Canada in opposing a publication ban over allegedly defamatory speech
• Representing a website owner in the first case in Canada and the Commonwealth to enforce passive (or “browse wrap”) online terms of use and related copyright claims
• Representing prominent physicians in actions concerning allegedly defamatory statements made by them and other medical staff about other prominent physicians
• Representing an international publishing company and author in a copyright infringement action
• Representing a non-profit charitable body in a defamation action against a collection of its critics who have posted materials on a website that the body claims are defamatory
• Representing an internationally recognised rock music star in relation to threats by a collaborator at an early stage of his career to advertise and profit from the unauthorised reproduction and sale of early performance tapes
• Representing a trade publication in relation to content published in its pages that allegedly defamed the members of an industry association
• Representing an industrial corporation in relation to allegedly defamatory content in correspondence and a website operated by a municipal government concerning disputed and unproven regulatory infractions
• Representing the trustees of a major public pension plain in relation to allegedly defamatory content in a “human interest” story broadcast by a major local television network
• Representing the trustees of a major public pension plan in relation to allegedly defamatory content displayed on the internet by an interest group of disaffected members
• Representing a local newspaper in a defamation action brought by an operator of bingo halls licensed to operate for charitable purposes
• Representing a national newspaper in a Privacy Act action brought by several plaintiffs in connection with an advertisement that made use of their photographs without their consent
• Representing a multinational mining company in a dispute with a national television network in connection with allegedly defamatory content in a news story that the network had threatened to run on a segment of its nightly news broadcast
• Defending claims brought by the Canadian Private Copying Collective

Team