Dugas v. Landry et al.

• Jurisdiction: New Brunswick
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick (Canada)
• Judge: Savoie, J.
• Citation: (1997), 188 N.B.R.(2d) 21 (TD)
• Date: 11 March 1997

Dugas v. Landry (1997), 188 N.B.R.(2d) 21 (TD);

    188 R.N.-B.(2e) 21; 480 A.P.R. 21

MLB headnote and full text

[French language version follows English language version]

[La version française vient à la suite de la version anglaise]

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Émérentienne Dugas (plaintiff) v. Aldéa Landry, Ernest Richard, Dannie David Larocque, Janica Duguay, Fabien Roussel and Marie Delagarde (defendants) and Cécile Larocque (third party)

(B/C/538/92)

Indexed As: Dugas v. Landry et al.

New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench

Trial Division

Judicial District of Bathurst

Savoie, J.

March 11, 1997.

Summary:

Dugas commenced a libel action against the defendants. The defendants replied with a motion seeking a preliminary decision dismissing the action on the ground that, given the pleadings and admissions of the plaintiff, the allegedly defamatory remarks were made in the course of a judicial pro­ceeding and were therefore protected by an absolute privilege and thus, there was no case to submit to the jury.

The New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, allowed the motion and dismissed the action.

Editor's note: For a related decision, see Richard et Larocque v. Gauvin (1992), 124 N.B.R.(2d) 271; 312 A.P.R. 271 (T.D.).

Libel and Slander - Topic 2928

Defences - Absolute privilege - State­ments made in the course of judicial or legal proceedings - Landry was defeated in Shippagan-les-Îles during a provincial election - Shortly afterwards, she learned that Larocque had allegedly said that Dugas, an organizer for the winning can­didate, had given her money to vote - Landry had a petition filed to set aside the election - The petition was dismissed - The court stated that Dugas had never given anyone money to vote - Dugas then commenced a libel action against Landry and others - In a preliminary decision based on admissions, the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, dismissed the action - Larocque's allegedly defamatory remarks had been made in the course of a judicial proceeding and were therefore protected by an absolute privilege and thus, there was no case to submit to the jury.

Practice - Topic 5551

Judgments and orders - Summary judg­ments - Judgments on admissions - [See Libel and Slander - Topic 2928 ].

Practice - Topic 7021

Costs - Party and party costs - Entitle­ment to party and party costs - Successful party - Exceptions - Conduct - The plaintiff's libel action was dis­missed by preliminary decision based on admissions made in the pleadings and at discovery - It was discovered that the allegedly de­famatory statement had been made in the course of a judicial proceeding and that it was protected by an absolute privilege and thus that there was no case to submit to the jury - The New Bruns­wick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Divi­sion, awarded no costs "at this time" to the defendants as the issue of costs had not been argued and since the plaintiff had been the victim of an allegation which was at the very least careless and which proved to be false - See paragraph 28.

Statutes Noticed:

Rules of Court (N.B.), rule 23.01(1)(c) [para. 2].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Brown, Raymond E., The Law of Defama­tion in Canada, p. 12-21 [para. 22].

Counsel:

Jacques F. Cormier, for the plaintiff;

Gérald Lizotte, for the defendants.

This motion was heard on February 3, 1997, by Savoie, J., of the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, Judicial District of Bathurst.

Savoie, J., delivered the following decision on March 11, 1997.