Ontario couple 'bullied' by window company over bad reviews awarded $166,000
An Ontario couple sued because they wrote a bad online review about a window company have been awarded more than $166,000 after a judge found they were bullied over it.
The couple purchased 14 windows and a sliding door from Woodbridge, Ont. company Canadian Thermo Windows, which operates under the name Magic Windows, but said they had issues with leaking following the installation.
They wrote three negative online reviews about the window company, in which they described their experience with Canadian Thermo Windows.
After the reviews were posted, the window company asked the couple to delete the negative reviews, but when they refused, Canadian Thermo Windows filed a defamation suit, court documents say.
"The plaintiffs brought this lawsuit to bully the defendants into removing their reviews from the Internet," Ontario Superior Court Justice Fred Myers found in his court ruling on the case.
According to court documents, the lawyer for Canadian Thermo Windows said the company suffered a "dramatic loss of revenue in December 2020" because of the couple's negative reviews.
"They deny that the loss of revenue was caused by the shutdown of Ontario due to the pandemic," Myers wrote.
The couple countered Canadian Thermo Windows' defamation suit by filing a motion under the SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) provisions.
"The intention of the anti-SLAPP motions is to provide a quick and inexpensive mechanism to end lawsuits being used to stifle public debate on a topic of public interest," Myers wrote.
Myers said in this ruling that Canadian Thermo Windows sought to "control the public narrative" by threatening the couple with a defamation suit.
"The plaintiffs sell their goods to the retail public," Myers said. "Discussion among the consuming public of the quality of the plaintiff’s goods and services is a matter of public interest."
Canadian Thermo Windows was ordered to pay $166,687 to the couple for costs and damages, and the defamation suit was tossed out.
"They were bullied," Lenczner Slaght LLP lawyer Lawrence Thacker, who represented the couple, told CTV News Toronto on Friday. "Because most people who, when faced with that sort of demand, will say 'I don’t want to spend the money to hire a lawyer.'"
"But that defeats the purpose of reviews. What is the function of reviews if any negative review can be wiped out by the person who being reviewed simply by a litigation tactic?"
Derek Knoke, who also represented the couple, said the SLAPP laws worked in this case.
"The legislation was intended to prevent people from using the threat of costs to scare people away," Knoke said. "(Without it) they could just give up, they take down their reviews."
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, lawyers for Canadian Thermo Windows maintain the "statements about their company were untrue."
"As things stand, the court has held that the legislature has removed the right to such a trial and that they must pay the defendants’ enormous legal bill for having asserted that right," the company's lawyers said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Angst and calls for resting places as Surrey, B.C., pet cemetery development continues
A single headstone is all that remains of dozens of markers for long-buried pets in a subdivision in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, where a half-acre parcel bears a large sign announcing the proposed construction of new homes.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.