Penalty for paying 000 26,000 for defamatory text message | Justice and various facts | News | The sun

CThe simple text message he sent to a son-in-law he hated was too costly for his writer, who was recently ordered by a Quebec court to pay his son-in-law’s spouse no less than $ 26,000.

Louis and his son-in-law Louis-Philippe have a very bad relationship in the wake of an estate division dispute. Judge Julie Messier said in a ruling last month that they had used swords several times in court and used them to exchange “unsightly” emails and text messages.

Jean-Philippe’s wife, Angela, is not interested in chicken and has never been involved in it. Angela and Louise have seen each other three times in their lives and have not spoken to each other during these meetings. They do not know each other.

On December 24, 2019, while in Mexico, Louis sent a text message to Louis-Philippe saying, “Happy Holidays, Cocold!” “Crisp news spreads quickly,” he believes. He had no evidence to support the claim, claiming that the information was only from another nephew, and denied that Louis-Philippe was valid.

Angela, who is two months pregnant, is with her partner, mother-in-law, brother-in-law and her son in the middle of Christmas Eve when Louise sends the famous text message.

“The text enters the news, Louis-Philippe reads it and shows it to Angela, he gets angry and surprised, he can not believe what he is reading, especially considering the evidence, but a suspicion occupies him. Everyone is embarrassed, the man asks his patriarchal question, the ceremonies come to a standstill, the couple continues to debate alone and a tension develops. Mr. wants to trust his wife, but his faith is shaken, ”said Judge Messier.

In pain and shame, Angela decides to announce Louise, so she backs away. Proper notice will be emailed January 20, 2020, giving Louis until January 22, 2020 to withdraw. Louise does not back down, reinforcing suspicion among Angela’s family members that there could be one more in the verdict.

Determined to prove the falsity of the text’s content and restore her reputation, Angela decides to go all out and file a defamation suit against her husband’s aunt. From him, he claims 000 12,000 in compensation and $ 15,000 in punitive compensation.

At trial, Angela testified that she felt the day of the speech to her disgrace, but following Louise’s refusal to back down, later, when she saw her husband’s aunt keep her accusations within her means, the defense. Judge Julie Messier says she shares her frustration at showing her personal life in the courtroom in order to restore her reputation, “strongly expressing that she never cheated on her husband.”

Lewis admits that he wants to relay the information and does not try to verify that the information is true, “to make him understand that the little people are reaping what he has sown” in his nephew’s nose. She admits she wanted to humiliate him.

“He did not believe and did not believe that his text message caused a stir in Louis-Philippe […]. So, since Angela did not believe that Louis-Philippe and that, she did not believe that Angela might have been humiliated [sa mère] He could have relied on what he wrote, ”Judge Messier summed up.

According to the magistrate, Angela “proved wrong” by proving that the words Louis wrote about herself were false, and that they were written carelessly and carelessly, without any evidence, and “by her own consent, these words never stopped Luigi from trying to persuade Louis to think about the impact of Angela on her.” The judge concludes that “it is defamatory to say that a person has committed adultery.”

He says Angela has also proven harm. “Thinking that a person has committed adultery automatically causes him to lose respect and respect for others, as well as to create negative feelings. This is what two of the most important people in Angela’s life, her husband and mother-in-law, reported, ”he explains.

According to the tribunal, accusing someone of committing adultery without evidence is “serious”. To do this in the middle of the New Year celebration is to say, “If you know that the family is reunited and that the text will have a greater impact and that it will ruin the happy event, it is“ Machiavellian ”.

“Marriage and family relationships are affected. The plaintiff was concerned about the consequences of the stress he had caused on the health of his fetus, “said Judge Messier, who awarded Angela 9 9,000 moral damages.

As for the penal damages, the court estimated them at $ 10,000. “Deliberately, Kutty, Louise wrote this serious accusation with the intent of harming her nephew.

But there’s a lot more, he says. Despite the lack of total evidence, “Louis did not make corrections, he did not apologize, and he did not believe his writing had any consequences”.

“Louise expressed a complete remorse. She did not understand the gesture of his gesture. Not understanding the feelings of others puts her at greater risk for reconsideration,” the magistrate said. In the course of relationships with each other.

Judge Messier awarded Angela a total of $ 26,000 in financial compensation for $ 7,000 in legal fees.