BLOGGER'S COMMENTS ON FARM FISH MUZZLED BY CANADIAN COURT

COURT SAID BLOGGER AND ACTIVIST DID NOT PRESENT FACTS AND DEFAMED FISH FARM COMPANY.

The British Columbia, Canada, Court of Appeal has muzzled an anti-salmon-farming activist and blogger and ordered him to pay $75,000 in damages to one of the province's biggest fish farming operations.

 

A three-member panel ruled unanimously that lower-court judge, Justice Elaine Adair, erred when she dismissed Mainstream Canada's defamation lawsuit against Don Staniford and upheld the campaigner's defence of fair comment.In written reasons,

 

Justice David Tysoe said the defamatory publications did not meet all four elements of a legal test because Staniford didn't reference the facts upon which he based his comments.

 

The court then ordered Don Staniford to pay $25,000 in general and $50,000 in punitive damages, referring in the latter award to the campaigner's conduct during the initial 2012 trial. Tysoe also referred to Adair's description of Staniford, saying the activist was "akin to a zealot," "virtually anything that conflicts with his view and vision is wrong, bad, disgraceful and worse," he "seems incapable of conceding he might be wrong on some things."  Besides damages and court costs, Tysoe also granted a permanent injunction, requested by the Norwegian-owned company, restraining Staniford from "publishing similar words and images in the future."

 

Laurie Jensen, a spokeswoman for Mainstream Canada, which owns 27 farms off the coasts of Vancouver Island, said she was pleased with the ruling, although she doesn't know how much the case has cost the company. "It wasn't about the money," she said. "It was about stopping these attacks, these vicious and malicious attacks."

Read more -
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/fish+farm+company+wins+cash+award+appeal+against+salmon/8692930/story.html

Alexandra Morton's website with report on Don Staniford's first trial in 2012 -  http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/2012/01/reporting-on-the-trial-of-don-staniford-vs-mainstream-by-elena-edwards.html

READ MORE ON THE PLIGHT OF WILD SALMON AND ABOUT THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH FISH FARMS ON ALEXANDRA MORTON'S WEBSITE.  http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/

Alexandra Morton is a reputable registered professional biologist living in British Columbia who has devoted her life to study whales, salmon and their ecosystems.  http://profile.typepad.com/6p0120a56ab882970c

Link to this post - http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/07/bloggers-comments-on-farm-fish-muzzled.html