Security for Costs Under Defamation Statutes

• Author: Roger McConchie; David Potts
• Profession: Member of the Bars of British Columbia and Alberta/Member of the Bar of Ontario
• Pages: 207-219

C

H A P T E R

T

E N :

Security

for

Costs

Under

Defamation

Statutes

The

provincial defamation legislation

on

security

for

costs

is not

uniform

across Canada. Consequently, decisions

from

one

province

may

have little

or

no

application

in

another province with

different

legislation.

A.

SECURITY

FOR

COSTS LEGISLATION

Under

the

defamation

legislation

of

British

Columbia, Ontario,

and

Saskatchewan,

a

defendant

may in

certain situations apply

for an

order

compelling

the

plaintiff

to pay

security

for

costs.

British Columbia,

Libel

and

Slander

Act,

R.S.B.C.

1996,

c.

262.

Ontario,

Libel

and

Slander Act,

R.S.O.

1990,

c.

L.12.

Saskatchewan,

Libel

and

Slander

Act,

R.S.S.

1978,

c.

L-14.

The

Ontario

Libd

and

Slander

Act

contains separate security

for

costs pro-

visions

for

libel

and for

slander. Section

12

contains

the

provisions

referring

to

libel

in a

newspaper

or in a

broadcast:

(1) In an

action

for a

libel

in a

newspaper

or in a

broadcast,

the

defendant

may,

at any

time

after

the

delivery

of the

statement

of

claim

or the

expiry

of

the

time within

which

it

should have been delivered, apply

to the

court

for

security

for

costs,

upon

notice

and an

affidavit

by the

defen-

dant

or his

agent showing

the

nature

of the

action

and of the

defence,

that

the

plaintiff

is not

possessed

of

property

sufficient

to

answer

the

costs

of the

action

in

case judgment

is

given

in

favour

of the

defendant,

that

the

defendant

has a

good defence

on the

merits

and

that

the

state-

ments complained

of

were made

in

good

faith,

or

that

the

grounds

of

action

are

trivial

or

frivolous,

and the

court

may

make

an

order

for the

207