Hurt feelings are worth about $6500.But should our courts care?

A defamation case that resulted in a measly $6500 payout proves yet again that the law is in serious need of reform.

How's this: a man, in the middle of a messy divorce and property settlement, sent a series of text messages to a male friend, talking about his ex-wife and her brother in very unfavourable terms. He was really angry at them. One of the things he said was this:

"Even the father [priest] of their church is extremely disappointed in them. I've been talking with him regularly since they turned on me, and he's helped me to understand the reasons why seemingly nice people can turn evil."

When the ex-wife's brother, Armstrong, sued the sender of the texts, McIntosh, for defamation, the judge found that the above statement communicated two things about Armstrong that were defamatory of him: that he was an evil person, and that he had acted in such an unchristian manner that his parish priest thought ill of him.