Can a defence of justification be used in a libel action?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Casa Roma Pizza, Spaghetti & Steak House Ltd. v. Gerling Global General Insurance Co., 1994 CanLII 1724 (BC CA):

26 In Atkinson v. Walter, supra, the application to amend was made by the defendants in a libel action shortly before the case was to have come on for trial. The defence originally had been limited to a denial that the words complained of did ot apply to the plaintiff except where he was expressly named and, as to them, were innocuous. Sometime later the defendants conducted an investigation of the plaintiff's activities and concluded a plea of justification was warranted. In the circumstances, such a plea was an allegation of fraud.

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