Spouse awarded damages for defamation and breach of privacy

Family law litigants are well advised to limit their views to the court proceedings, rather than communicating them to the world at large. A British Columbia court recently awarded a mother $40,000 in damages for defamation and breach of privacy after her former husband, a doctor whose practice was restricted, accessed private information from his former wife's home computer and posted it online in social media. He also distributed information and commentary about the wife in correspondence to third parties, including government agencies and clubs. The statements were inflammatory and the court found they were intended to embarrass the wife by publicizing matters from her private life.

The parties had a child and in the course of acrimonious family court litigation, the husband was restricted by the court to supervised access only. Although the wife obtained an order in the family law proceedings restraining the husband from publishing material relating to his former wife, her business, family members and other third parties, including on the internet, the husband persisted. The court rejected his assertions that the publications were to defend himself against false claims in the family law case. In addition to finding the husband's statements defamed his former wife, the court found that he breached the wife's privacy as the husband had accessed private correspondence on the wife's computer. Because the wife did not experience personal or professional repercussions due to the publications, the court limited the award to $40,000. However, the wife was also awarded special costs, which award is usually made to penalize a party for reprehensible behaviour.