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Ontario Court Grants Norwich Order to Disclose Identity of Defendants
In the decision York University v. Bell Canada Enterprises and Rogers Communications Inc., the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a “Norwich order”, allowing the plaintiff, York University, to seek from third parties, Bell Canada Enterprises (“Bell”) and Rogers Communications Inc. (“Rogers”), disclosure of the identity of the defendants who wrote potentially defamatory content on an electronic medium against a York University professor. A Norwich order allows a plaintiff, or a potential plaintiff, to seek disclosure of the identity of the defendant from a third party in order to bring action against that defendant.
In January 2009, the President of York University announced that Professor Martin Singer had been named as the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. In February 2009, an anonymous group of individual(s) wrote an email post that stated Professor Singer was unqualified for the position. The Court found that under the Norwich order test, (a) the words in the email post were capable of being found to be defamatory of York University and the President of York University, and there was a prima facie case of defamation, (b) Bell and Rogers were the conduit for the communication of the email, (c) Bell and Rogers are the only practical source of the information, (d) the costs for Bell and Rogers to comply with the order are minimal, and (e) the interests of justice favoured disclosure of the identity of the defendants. Since all of the factors under the test for a Norwich order were met, the Court ordered the disclosure of the identity of the defendants for the limited purpose of allowing York University to begin litigation.
For a copy of the decision (Ontario Superior Court of Justice), visit: