Simán v. Eisenbrandt, 2024 BCCA 176 (CanLII)
Court of Appeal for British Columbia — British Columbia
The appellant appeals the dismissal of his defamation action under the Protection of Public Participation Act. The action concerned a book authored by the respondent about the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero in El Salvador in 1980. The appellant alleged that there were passages in the book that conveyed the inferential defamatory meanings that he had conspired in the assassination and had financed death squads in El Salvador. The chambers judge concluded that there was substantial merit to the appellant’s claim that the words were defamatory. However, he dismissed the action on the basis that the appellant did not show grounds to believe that the defence of responsible communication had no real prospect of success.
Held: Appeal dismissed. The judge erred in his analysis of the defence of responsible communication in finding that the impugned statements could constitute reportage. However, the error does not affect the overall conclusion that the appellant did not meet his onus to show there are grounds to believe that the defence had no prospect of success. Although the order dismissing the action may be upheld on this basis alone, the appellant also failed to show that the public interest in allowing the proceeding to continue outweighed the public interest in protecting the respondent’s expression.