Is a party who agrees to a libelous statement liable for damages?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Lee v. Kuo, 1996 CanLII 3023 (BC SC):
75 In Hill v. Church of Scientology, 1995 CanLII 59 (SCC), [1995] 2 S.C.R. 1130, Cory J. said at p. 1200: . . . It is a well-established principle that all persons who are involved in the commission of a joint tort are jointly and severally liable for the damages caused by that tort. If one person writes a libel, another repeats it, and a third approves what is written, they all have made the defamatory libel. Both the person who originally utters the defamatory statement, and the individual who expresses agreement with it, are liable for the injury.
76 I find that the statement of complaint was false. The defence of truth must fail. The words contained in the statement of complaint are not true in their ordinary and natural meaning. With respect to any innuendo the words might convey, they are not a fair, reasonable and balanced summary of the events they purport to report on: DeMoor v. Harvey (1989), 24 C.C.L.T. 293 (B.C.S.C.); Caldwell v. McBride (1988), 45 C.C.L.T. 150 (B.C.S.C.).
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