OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal by self-styled free-speech crusader Paul Fromm against a $30,000 defamation penalty.
Fromm was seeking to overturn lower court rulings that found he maliciously defamed a former investigator for the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Fromm's web postings were directed at Richard Warman, a lawyer who has made a career of going after hate speech on the Internet.
Fromm didn't dispute that he'd labelled Warman a "high priest of censorship" - among other things - but argued it was fair comment and without malice.
Last December, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a trial award of $30,000 against Fromm, and added $10,000 in legal costs.
The Supreme Court refused to hear Fromm's appeal and, as is usual with leaves to appeal, provided no reasons.
2 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formIs this the big case where Fromm is trying to have the courts adjudicate on the constitutionality of the HRCS?
Or is that another thing altogether.
Hard to keep track of all the LOLawering being done.
23 April 2009 at 15:37
Naw! That's Marc Lemire. This was just Fromm appealing a libel ruling against him. Still it's more grist for the mill.
23 April 2009 at 17:51