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ARTICLE · 06 NOVEMBER 2020

Volunteer Coaches' Defamation Claim Dismissed As Contrary To Public Interest

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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a defamation claim which arose from an email sent by parents of a competitive ringette player...

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
James R.G. Cook
James R.G. Cook
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The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a defamation claim which arose from an email sent by parents of a competitive ringette player expressing their dissatisfaction with the league and the team's volunteer coaches: Gorham et al. v. Behm et al., 2020 ONSC 6469 (CanLII).

The email in question was 7 single-spaced pages, and recounted the family's perspective as to why their 15-year-old daughter left her ringette team after a dispute with the team's coaches. The email was copied to “essentially every ringette organization around.” Although the email did not directly identify any of the coaches by name, the relevant community would have known who was being discussed. The Court noted that it was clear that the author was “very biased” and described a one-sided history about key conversations and events and the highly subjective emotional reactions felt by a 15-year-old player.

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