Does the defence of qualified privilege apply?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Newman et al v. Halstead et al, 2006 BCSC 65 (CanLII):
The defence of qualified privilege protects defamatory errors of fact which are not excused under the defences of justification or fair comment. Qualified privilege applies to an occasion where the defendant has an interest or duty (legal, social, or moral) to communicate the defamatory expression and its recipients have a corresponding duty or interest to receive that communication: Pressler v. Lethbridge (2000), 86 B.C.L.R. (3d) 257 at 295, 2000 BCCA 639. On the facts in the case at bar, I find that the defence of qualified privilege simply does not apply.
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