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ARTICLE · 05 MARCH 2021

Defaming A Professional Can Be Costly

Gardiner Roberts LLP
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The law of defamation is unique in that general damages are awarded at-large. There is no upper ceiling for an award and there is little value to be gained in attempting to compare damages awards...

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Stephen Thiele
Stephen Thiele
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The law of defamation is unique in that general damages are awarded at-large. There is no upper ceiling for an award and there is little value to be gained in attempting to compare damages awards between cases. However, case law demonstrates that where a professional is being defamed a damages award can be significant.

In Huff v. Zuk, 2021 ABCA 60, the Alberta Court of Appeal was required to determine, among other things, whether a $50,000 damages award granted to the plaintiff dentist (H) for defamation ought to be reduced in circumstances where there was no evidence that H had suffered any loss in reputation whatsoever in circumstances where the defamer was another dentist (Z).

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