Case information

Civil procedure — Appeals — Applicant posting comments about respondent in online social media posts —Applicant found liable for engaging in acts of cyber-bullying against respondent, pursuant to provincial statute — Applicant ordered to pay damages and costs, take down online posts and refrain from making new ones, and prohibited from contacting respondent — Applicant’s appeal dismissed for failure to perfect appeal — Court of Appeal denying applicant’s request for leave to have appellate panel review dismissal decision — Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act, S.N.S. 2017, c. 7, ss. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7.

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(PUBLICATION BAN IN CASE)

The applicant, B.A., and the respondent, J.F., were in a relationship in 2019, while J.F. was a teacher at a post-secondary educational institution and B.A. was a student at the institution. Following the end of the relationship, B.A. made a number of statements about J.F. in various online social media posts that were accessible to the public, including allegations that J.F. was violent and a serial sexual predator, and had engaged in sexual abuse of his daughter. In response, J.F. alleged such statements were defamatory and constituted harassment, and that this harassment caused him significant distress, including health issues and impacts on his work; J.F. commenced an application for relief under the provincial Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act.

The trial judge found that B.A.’s online posts constituted “cyber-bullying” as defined by the statute, and granted J.F. the requested relief: B.A. was ordered to take down the impugned online posts, to refrain from making any other similar posts, to never contact J.F. directly or indirectly in any way, and to pay J.F. a total of $85,000 in damages, as well as costs. An appellate judge at the Court of Appeal dismissed B.A.’s appeal from the trial decision, on a motion brought by J.F., for failure to perfect her appeal. This dismissal decision was upheld on further appeal, as B.A.’s request to have the dismissal decision reviewed by a panel of the Court of Appeal was refused.