Does absolute privilege apply to lawyers and witnesses in preparation for judicial proceedings?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Duncan v. Lessing, 2016 BCSC 1386 (CanLII):
As confirmed in McDaniel v. McDaniel, 2009 BCCA 53 at paras. 28, 29 [McDaniel], absolute privilege applies to lawyers and witnesses, covering their communications in preparation for judicial proceedings, and “is absolute so that it applies regardless of the lawyers’… malice (e.g. motive)”. There was no finding of malice in that case, but simply a statement illustrating that the immunity is indeed absolute and not qualified. If the immunity were simply a qualified privilege, then malice would defeat it as a defence.
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