Applicability of Libel Notice

• Author: David A. Potts; Erin Stoik
• Pages: 439-451

439

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Applicability of Libel Notice

Ontario’s Libel and Slander Act, RSO 1990, c L.12, requires that notice be given

to a prospective defendant when a defamatory statement is published in a

newspaper or broadcast. The issue of notice requirements for publications in

social media is not yet settled in law and a plaintif‌f may respond to an anti-

SLAPP motion by alleging improper/no notice.

In this chapter we provide a brief overview of the notice requirement and

supporting caselaw before reviewing anti-SLAPP caselaw in which this issue

has arisen. Ultimately, anti-SLAPP motions are not the appropriate forum

to adjudicate the issue of whether notice is required, given the use of the

motion as a screening mechanism.

LEGISLATION

In the libel and slander statutes of many provinces, notice must be given

when the of‌fending statement is contained either in a newspaper or in a

broadcast. For example, section 5(1) of the Ontario Libel and Slander Act, RSO

1990, c L.12, which states:

5 (1) No action for libel in a newspaper or in a broadcast lies unless the plaintif‌f

has, within six weeks after the alleged libel has come to the plaintif‌f’s know-

ledge, given to the defendant notice in writing, specifying the matter com-

plained of, which shall be served in the same manner as a statement of claim

or by delivering it to a grown-up person at the chief oce of the defendant.

A libel notice must be served within three months of the matter. See s 6:

6 An action for a libel in a newspaper or in a broadcast shall be commenced

within three months after the libel has come to the knowledge of the person

defamed, but, where such an action is brought within that period, the action