Heat on Ford defence at libel trial
Mayor must prove he didn’t defame café owner with ‘corruption’ comments, legal expert says
The onus is on Mayor Rob Ford to defend corruption comments he made about a controversial restaurant lease during the 2010 civic election, a top legal expert says.
Tuesday’s trial, triggered by Boardwalk Café owner George Foulidis’s $6million lawsuit, is expected to take four days.
Subpoenaed witnesses who may testi- fy include former mayor David Miller, Ford council colleagues Frances Nunziata and Doug Holyday, and Toronto journalists.
Brian MacLeod Rogers, one of Canada’s foremost libel experts — who is not involved in the case — said in an interview Monday the onus is on Ford to establish a defence and show he did not defame Foulidis.
“It’s a relatively easy case for the plaintiff (Foulidis) because all they have to show is that something was published about them that harmed their reputation,” said Rogers, a media law lawye and adjunct professor at Ryerson University’s school of journalism.
“Fault and damage is presumed.”
“That means that the onus shifts to the defendant to establish a defence,” said Rogers, adding he mayor may be helped by a 2008 Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
The ruling found B.C. radio host Rafe Mair did not defame a family values advocate and strengthened the “fair comment” protection courts can apply to statements of opinion on issues of public interest.
Ford refused to talk about the case Monday because it is before the courts. Councillor Doug Ford, however, blasted his brother’s third tangle with the courts in less than two years as yet another attempt by the mayor’s left-wing enemies to slay the waste-fighting dragon.
“It’s 100-per-cent political,” Councillor Ford said. “It’s all politics. Every court case Rob’s in is all about politics, you know that . . . We’re here to represent the people. We’ll take the brunt for the people.”
The Toronto Sun’s Jonathan Jenkins quoted Rob Ford on Aug. 12, 2010, as saying council’s award of an untendered 20-year lease extension “stinks to high heaven.”
“I can’t accuse anyone, or I can’t pinpoint it, but why do we have to go in camera on the Tuggs deal?” Ford said. “These in camera meetings, there’s more corruption and skullduggery going on in there than I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Jenkins, who was quoting the then-Ward 2 councillor speaking to the Sun’s editorial board, is among those summoned by Foulidis’s lawyer to testify this week.
Then-mayor Miller criticized Ford’s comments at the time, asking: “What kind of elected official says something irresponsible like that, smearing people’s reputations, when he has nothing to support it?”
Ford immediately shot back at Miller in a campaign statement: “I think it was corruption, Mayor Miller doesn’t, so let’s make all the information public and let the taxpayers decide for themselves.”
The lawsuit argues Ford’s statements “were understood to mean that Mr. Foulidis acted illegally and that the contract awarded to his company was the result of that illegal and criminal activity.”
Ford’s statement of defence accuses Foulidis of filing the lawsuit just before the civic election in an effort to prevent Ford from being elected mayor. It also notes that Ford did not mention Foulidis by name and says the remarks were fair comment during an election campaign.
“If you look at what Mr. Ford actually said, what he said it about, it was a critique of the way city hall is conducting the affairs of the city,” Ford’s lawyer, Gavin Tighe, told the Star in December 2010.