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ARTICLE · 28 NOVEMBER 2022

Defamatory Statements Made In A Pleading Are Immune To Attack

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The law of defamation permits a defendant to raise specialized defences to defeat a claim. The most common defences are justification/truth, qualified privilege and fair comment.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Stephen Thiele
Stephen Thiele
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The law of defamation permits a defendant to raise specialized defences to defeat a claim. The most common defences are justification/truth, qualified privilege and fair comment. However, there are other powerful specialized defences that can be raised in narrow circumstances. One of those defences is absolute privilege. The absolute privilege defence is powerful because it will protect a defendant even though the defendant may have acted with malice.

In Lombard v. Semaganis, 2022 SKQB 224, the court was asked to consider the absolute privilege defence on a motion to strike the plaintiff's defamation action.

The case arose out of a failed law partnership between the plaintiff, L, and her partners S and W.

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