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ARTICLE · 02 MAY 2025

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Sexual Abuse Survivors Beware — The Defamation Risk

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Two adult sisters accuse their uncle of sexually assaulting them as young children through spoken words and emails sent to family members. The uncle successfully sues them for defamation.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Elizabeth Grace
Elizabeth Grace
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This article was originally published in November 2017

  • Two adult sisters accuse their uncle of sexually assaulting them as young children through spoken words and emails sent to family members. The uncle successfully sues them for defamation. The sisters are ordered to pay him $125,000 in damages plus his legal costs. (Vanderkooy v. Vanderkooy, 2013 ONSC 4796)
  • An adult sister sues her brother for childhood sexual and physical abuse and he counter-sues her for defamation based on emails, letters and postcards she sent to family members, lawyers and a former high school friend about his alleged abuse. The sister is unsuccessful with her lawsuit and although she satisfies the court that her statements to family members and lawyers were defensible, she fails to do so in relation to her communication with her former friend. She is ordered to pay her brother $5,000 in damages for defamation plus his legal costs. (Whitfield v. Whitfield, 2016 ONCA 581)

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