Court dismisses company’s libel lawsuit against teacher over Facebook postings – July 26, 2017 Toronto Star / July 28, 2017 CBC articles

The photo is from the July 26, 2017 Toronto Star article featured at the post you are now reading. Caption reads: “I’m just relieved that it’s over,” Katie Mohammed said Wednesday, after a libel lawsuit against her was dismissed. “It’s like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders.” (RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR)

A July 26, 2017 Toronto Star article is entitled: “Court dismisses company’s libel lawsuit against teacher over Facebook postings.”

The subhead reads: “When Katie Mohammed turned to Facebook to air concerns about her community — as millions of people do every day — she didn’t think she’d ever be sued for libel, and become the centre of a precedent-setting case in Ontario’s laws protecting speech in the public interest.”

An excerpt from the article reads:

In addition to being used as a precedent in future anti-SLAPP cases in Ontario, De Luca said that the decision in Mohammed’s case may attract the attention of other jurisdictions considering similar legislation.

“Other jurisdictions are watching Ontario to see our case law developments on this,” he said. “These kinds of decisions will have a wider influence than simply in Ontario.”

The photo is from the July 28, 2017 CBC article for which a link is included at the post you are now reading. Caption reads: Katie Mohammed has been awarded $7,500 in damages under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP laws. (Katie Mohammed)

Mohammed said that she hopes that her case encourages other Canadians that their rights to free speech will be protected in court.

“I just hope that Canadians realize that it’s important for people to speak up on matters of public interest and that there’s a law to protect them now,” she said.

[End of excerpt]

July 28, 2017 CBC article

A July 28, 2017 CBC article is entitled: “How an Ontario mom fended off a $120K libel lawsuit over her Facebook posts.”

Comment

The articles – concerned with the concept of protection of speech in the public interest – are strongly of relevance, in particular in the context of lawsuits or threats of lawsuits in Toronto (among other jurisdictions) in years past.