Depression Support Group

B.C. man slapped with $179K libel fine - Australian defamed

A Nanaimo man has been ordered to pay an Australian man more than
$179,000 in damages arising from hundreds of libelous statements he made
on numerous websites over four years.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Halfyard found that Patrick Michael
Sullivan defamed Robert Griffin, a 43-year-old resident of Sydney,
Australia, in Internet postings from May 30, 2003, up until the trial in
Nanaimo in April.

A war of words had erupted between the two men on a website used by
depressed and suicidal people.

The judge ruled that the defendant maliciously made false allegations
that Griffin was, among other things, a stalker, abuser, harasser,
killer, sexual predator, pervert, coward, manipulator and hate monger
who threatens other people with death and violence.

Halfyard said he agreed with the plaintiff's submission that the
statements were "numerous and monstrous," "outrageous" and "so extreme
that it is difficult to find case precedents that come anywhere close."

Griffin said that the postings broke him emotionally and physically,
ruined his relationship with his girlfriend, made him fearful of going
out in public and in large part caused a suicide attempt that required
him to consult psychologists.

The judge ordered Sullivan to pay $150,000 in general and aggravated
damages for libel, $25,000 for breach of privacy and $4,600 in special
damages. He also ordered an injunction be imposed on Sullivan
preventing him from posting any further defamatory messages on the
Internet.

"This was an extreme and vicious campaign of Internet libel," said Dan
Burnett, Griffin's Vancouver lawyer. "For over four years the defendant
posted hundreds of outrageous accusations against the plaintiff, which
he admitted at trial had no basis. The high damage award and the
injunction reflects how much harm can be inflicted by a person bent on
using the Internet for a smear campaign."

Sullivan could not be reached for comment.
Posted on 07/19/08, 05:07 pm