Boyer v. Toronto Life Publishing Co. et al., [2000] O.T.C. 196 (SupCt)

• Judge: Nordheimer, J.
• Court: Superior Court of Justice of Ontario (Canada)
• Case Date: March 15, 2000
• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Citations: [2000] O.T.C. 196 (SupCt)

Boyer v. Toronto Life Publ. Co., [2000] O.T.C. 196 (SupCt)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2000] O.T.C. TBEd. MR.123

Patrick Boyer (plaintiff) v. Toronto Life Publishing Co. Ltd., John MacFarlane, William M. Duron and Elaine Dewar (defendants)

(Court File No. 97-CV-127416)

Indexed As: Boyer v. Toronto Life Publishing Co. et al.

Court of Ontario

Superior Court of Justice

Nordheimer, J.

March 23 and April 17, 2000.

Summary:

Boyer sued the Toronto Life magazine and several individuals for damages for defamation. The individual defendants moved to dismiss the action against them on the ground that the plaintiff failed to comply with the notice requirements of s. 5(1) of the Libel and Slander Act (Ont.). The defendants received the notice letters from the plaintiff but alleged that they were insufficient because they were addressed to Toronto Life, and not to the individuals, and were marked to the attention of the individual defendants.

The Ontario Superior Court dismissed the defendants' motion. The court held that the delivery of the notices to the offices of Toronto Life constituted valid service of the notices on the individual defendants. The court ordered costs of the motion of $2,500 payable forthwith to the plaintiff. The court stated that "it has been the practice for many years in this court to order costs of motions payable forthwith".

Libel and Slander - Topic 6067

Practice - Notice - Sufficiency of service of - See paragraphs 6 to 26.

Practice - Topic 7372

Costs - Costs of interlocutory proceedings - Payment forthwith - See paragraphs 30 to 32.

Cases Noticed:

Grossman v. CFTO-TV Ltd. (1982), 139 D.L.R.(3d) 618 (Ont. C.A.), refd to. [para. 8].

Burwell v. The London Free Press Printing Co. (1985), 17 O.R. 6 (Q.B.D), refd to. [para. 9].

Knott v. The Telegram Printing Co., [1917] 3 W.W.R. 335 (S.C.C.), refd to. [para. 10].

Charleton v. Albertan Publishing Co. Ltd., [1944] 2 W.W.R. 225 (Alta. S.C.), refd to. [para. 12].

Elliot v. Freisen et al. (1982), 37 O.R.(2d) 409 (H.C.), refd to. [para. 13].

Reis Lighting Products & Services Ltd. v. Westcom Radio Group Ltd. (1996), 113 Man.R.(2d) 129; 131 W.A.C. 129 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 14].

R.E. Knowles Jr. v. 20th Century Publishing Co. et al., [1939] O.W.N. 403 (H.C.), refd to. [para. 21].

Hanover Nursing Home Ltd. v. London and District Service Workers' Union, Local 220 (1999), 91 O.T.C. 178 (Gen. Div.), refd to. [para. 21].

Axton v. Kent (1991), 49 O.A.C. 32; 2 O.R.(3d) 797 (Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 31].

Statutes Noticed:

Libel and Slander Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L-12, sect. 5(1) [para. 6].

Counsel:

C. Clifford Lax, Q.C., and Mitchell Flagg, for the plaintiff;

Howard W. Winkler and Odette S. Soriano, for the defendants.

This motion was heard on March 15, 2000 by Nordheimer, J., of the Ontario Superior Court, who released the following decisions on March 23 and April 7, 2000.

Please note: The following judgment has not been edited.