A western Canadian will have to pay $65,000 to her neighbour for posting comments about him on Facebook that defamed and damaged him, ruled a judge. Not only was Katherine Van Nes held responsible for her own comments, but she was sanctioned for friends’ comments on her page suggesting that Doug Pritchard was, among other things, a pedophile.
Pritchard filed a civil claim against Van Nes and won. It is not the first time in Canada that someone has successfully sued for comments made on social media platforms.
Court considers how far online defamation spreads
“The courts take a lot of different factors into account when they are considering damages in a defamation case,” says Toronto lawyer Robert Kalanda. “The medium and the form that the message will take is certainly one factor. But the court will also consider other factors like how credible the post is, how significant the allegation is, those sorts of things.
“But the court recognizes that for social media and online posts in particular there is an extra level of concern because of how quickly those kinds of comments can spread, how broadly they can spread and how difficult they are to take down or recant once they’re out in the world on the internet.”
ListenNoise dispute escalated
The dispute between the neighbours began with a noise complaint. In 2011, Pritchard asked Van Nes to turn off a new waterfall she had installed because the noise disrupted his family’s sleep. Things deteriorated further. The obvious advice from Kalanda is to try to not let disagreements between neighbours get out of hand.
“It’s usually a good idea to try and resolve your neighbourly disputes just with a, hopefully with a conversation with your neighbour or possibly, if you need it, seeking legal advice. But posting things online that are false is not going to be what gets you the relief you need.”
Van Nes was ordered to pay $50,000 for defamation, $15,000 for punitive damages and $2,500 for damages for nuisance. The judge also ordered the Nes family to never operate their waterfall between 10pm and 7am.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.