Langille et al. v. McGrath, (2000) 233 N.B.R.(2d) 29 (TD)

• Judge: McLellan, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick (Canada)
• Case Date: November 22, 2000
• Jurisdiction: New Brunswick
• Citations: (2000), 233 N.B.R.(2d) 29 (TD)

Langille v. McGrath (2000), 233 N.B.R.(2d) 29 (TD);

    233 R.N.-B.(2e) 29; 601 A.P.R. 29

MLB headnote and full text

[French language version follows English language version]

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

....................

Temp. Cite: [2001] N.B.R.(2d) TBEd. JA.009

Stephen Langille, Jerome Langille and Fundy Bay Holdings Ltd. (plaintiffs) v. Odette McGrath (defendant)

(S/C/1193/99)

Indexed As: Langille et al. v. McGrath

New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench

Trial Division

Judicial District of Saint John

McLellan, J.

November 22, 2000.

Summary:

The plaintiffs sued the defendant for dam­ages for defamation. The defendant counter­claimed for damages for alleged threats.

The New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, allowed the plaintiffs' action and assessed damages accordingly. The court dismissed the counterclaim.

Damage Awards - Topic 632

Torts - Injury to the person - Libel and slander - [See Libel and Slander - Topic 642 ].

Libel and Slander - Topic 642

The statement - What constitutes defama­tory statements - General principles - Examples of defamatory words - The defendant and her neighbours wanted the City of Saint John to close a gravel pit in their neighbourhood - The plaintiffs, the oper­ators of the pit, wanted the city to license the pit - During a televised city council meeting, the defendant stated that there were rumours that if she did not watch herself she would be bumped - She also repeated the statement during a tele­vised interview - The plaintiffs sued the defendant for damages for defamation - The New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, allowed the action, holding that the defendant defamed the plain­tiffs by her words at the televised meeting of city council and in the televised inter­view where the words were unjustified and untrue - The court awarded damages of $500.

Libel and Slander - Topic 745

The statement - What constitutes defama­tory statements - Slander - Statements which are slanderous - [See Libel and Slander - Topic 642 ].

Torts - Topic 3182

Trespass - Assault and battery - Assault - What constitutes - The defendant and her neighbours wanted the City of Saint John to close a gravel pit in their neighbourhood - The plaintiffs, the operators of the pit, wanted the city to license the pit - The defendant, along with a newspaper photo­grapher, a reporter and a few other inter­ested persons assembled near the pit for a "photo-op" with the media - The defend­ant alleged that one of the workers at the pit spoke and ges­tured (i.e., gave "the finger") to the crowd and that the defend­ant felt she was threatened - The New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, held that "the fin­ger" was "a curse ex­pressed as a gesture" and not an assault - Therefore, it did not give rise to any civil liability - See para­graphs 40 to 46.

Cases Noticed:

Weeks v. Weeks, [1955] 3 D.L.R. 704 (B.C.C.A.), refd to. [para. 12].

Wallace v. Davis (1926), 31 O.W.N. 202 (H.C.), refd to. [para. 13].

Legere v. YMCA-YWCA of Saint John (1997), 192 N.B.R.(2d) 199; 489 A.P.R. 199 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 44].

Donovan v. New Brunswick Publishing Co. (1996), 174 N.B.R.(2d) 23; 444 A.P.R. 23 (T.D.), affd. (1996), 184 N.B.R.(2d) 40; 469 A.P.R. 40 (C.A.), refd to. [para. 45].

Peters v. Hamilton-Brown, [2000] N.B.R.(2d) (Supp.) No. 4 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 47].

Powell v. Seeds (1999), 223 N.B.R.(2d) 84; 572 A.P.R. 84 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 47].

Dow-Campbell v. Rahn (1995), 160 N.B.R.(2d) 112; 412 A.P.R. 112 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 48].

Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto and Manning, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 1130; 184 N.R. 1; 84 O.A.C. 1; 126 D.L.R.(4th) 129, refd to. [para. 52].

Baxter v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Malling (1979), 28 N.B.R.(2d) 114; 63 A.P.R. 114 (T.D.), refd to. [para. 53].

Statutes Noticed:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982, sect. 2(b), sect. 2(c) [para. 35].

Authors and Works Noticed:

American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law (Second) (Torts), sect. 31 [para. 37].

Handford, P.R., Tort Liability for Threat­ening or Insulting Words (1976), 54 Can. Bar Rev. 562, generally [para. 37]; pp. 574, 575 [para. 39].

Linden, Allen M., Canadian Tort Law (1997), p. 47 [para. 38].

Sopinka, John, and Lederman, Sidney N., The Law of Evidence in Civil Cases, pp. 528, 529 [para. 13].

Counsel:

Frederick A. Welsford, for the plaintiffs;

William T. Grant, Q.C., for the defendant.

This application was heard on November 7 and 8, 2000, before McLellan, J., of the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, Trial Division, Judicial District of Saint John, who delivered the following judgment on Novem­ber 22, 2000.