Sunday, September 6, 2020 | Julius Melnitzer
On Thursday, September 10, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will issue its decisions in two Anti-Slapp legislation cases from Ontario.
One of the judgments involves Maia Bent, a partner with Lerners LLP in Toronto. She allegedly defamed an expert witness in an email she issued in her former capacity as the president-elect of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association.
The decisions are the first from the SCC on the legislation, and will deal with a variety of interpretive issues. Most significantly, the court will elaborate on the factors judges might consider in assessing whether the harm caused by the impugned expression is sufficiently serious to outweigh the public interest in its protection.