Category Archives: Lawsuit

More free advertising from the Anglican Journal

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Thanks AJ:

As a part of a mutually agreed upon court settlement of a defamation of character lawsuit, blogger David Jenkins has apologized to Bishop Michael Bird of the diocese of Niagara “for any suffering he has experienced as a result of blog postings” on his blog, Anglican Samizdat.

The settlement also stipulated that Jenkins would pay “a majority of the legal costs involved, remove the Bishop from his posts, and agree not to publish any similar posts about the Bishop in the future,” according to a release issued by the diocese of Niagara. In a related post on Anglican Samizdat, Jenkins noted that he had agreed to pay $18,000 toward legal costs, which Bird’s lawyer had stated were $24,000.

Jenkins’s statement of defence had denied that his postings were libellous or defamatory. It asserted that Jenkins was exercising his freedom of religion and expression and that his comments were intended to be humourous and satirical.
-STAFF

Church of England Newspaper: Bishop drops lawsuit against blogger

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Read it all here:

The Bishop of the Ontario-based Diocese of Niagara, the Rt. Rev. Michael Bird, has dropped his $400,000 defamation of character lawsuit against David Jenkins, after the conservative blogger agreed to partial payment of the bishop’s legal fees and an apology.  A first of its kind lawsuit that was closely watched by free speech activists….

Anglican Journal: Bishop settles lawsuit with blogger

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Read it all here:

The settlement also stipulated that Jenkins would pay “a majority of the legal costs involved, remove the Bishop from his posts, and agree not to publish any similar posts about the Bishop in the future,” according to a release issued by the diocese of Niagara. In a related post on Anglican Samizdat, Jenkins noted that he had agreed to pay $18,000 toward legal costs, which Bird’s lawyer had stated were $24,000. Jenkins did not pay damages, which were listed as $400,000 in the original claim filed in February 2013.

Jenkins’s statement of defence had denied that his postings were libelous or defamatory. It asserted that he was exercising his freedom of religion and expression and that his comments were “…intended to be humourous and make use of satire, sarcasm, irony, hyperbole, wit, ‘send up’ and other types of humour to make a point other than what one would take literally from the comments. In those cases, no reasonable viewer or reader of the blog postings would be expected to believe that the statements are true…”

Hamilton Spectator: Niagara Bishop to get public apology from blogger

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Read it all here:

B821577884Z.1_20140407132747_000_G4417DAR2.2_ContentThe legal squabble between Niagara Bishop Michael Bird and an Oakville blogger who criticized him is over.

The Diocese of Niagara issued a press release Monday saying the pair has reached a settlement.

The church said blogger David Jenkins offered an apology to Bird for “any suffering he has experienced as a result of blog postings” on Jenkins’ Anglican Samizdat blog.

Bishop Michael Bird v. David Jenkins lawsuit. The final chapter

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As many of you will be aware, in February 2013 Bishop Michael Bird sued me for defamation of character. I was served on February 19th, five years to the day that my church, St. Hilda’s was served with papers to take possession of the church building and freeze our bank account.

The lawsuit has now been settled; hence the post beneath this one.

I thought it might be instructive to catalogue much of what has occurred between February last year and today.

In brief, the claim sought:

  • $400,000 in damages plus court costs and their legal costs.
  • An interim and permanent injunction to shut down Anglican Samizdat.
  • An interim and permanent injunction prohibiting me from publishing further comments about Michael Bird.

Here is a summary of what has happened:

2013
March
An initial attempt on my part to achieve an early settlement was rebuffed since I was unwilling to “put some money on the table.”

April
I filed my statement of defence.
I received the initial Discovery Plan from Bird’s lawyer and the Pleadings were closed.

May
The Hamilton Spectator published an article on the lawsuit.
The Anglican Journal published an article on the lawsuit.
The Church of England Newspaper, and various bloggers including VOL posted articles.

Following this publicity, I received a formal Offer to Settle which included:

  • I pay $50,000 damages plus Bird’s legal costs.
  • I remove the complained of posts.
  • I remove any other things I may have said that refer to Bird anywhere else on the Internet.
  • I cooperate in removing anything said about Bird by third parties anywhere on the Internet.

I responded with an offer to settle that included:

  • I remove the complained of posts.
  • We each pay our own legal fees.
  • I donate $5000 to World Vision in Michael Bird’s name.

There was no response to my offer.

October
After numerous delays, the Examination for Discovery took place.

Directly after Discovery, Bird’s lawyer made a new offer to settle:

  • I pay Michel Bird’s legal expense but no damages.
  • I publish an apology.
  • I remove the complained of posts.
  • I agree not to publish any similar posts about Michael Bird in the future.

Michael Bird’s legal expenses amounted to $24,000. I made a counter-offer of $12,000 in addition to the other items.

2014
January
Michael Bird’s lawyer made another offer of $18,000 for legal expenses in addition to the other items.

February
I decided that further financial haggling was infra dig, so I agreed to the terms.

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support during this interesting episode.

Thanks for the prayers

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Thanks to all who prayed for my attendance at the Examinations for Discovery yesterday. I had been sternly instructed not to “engage” with my questioner – that’s lawyer-speak for argue.

My lawyer tells me I managed to confine myself to just a couple of “engagements”; if that is not a testimony to the power of prayer, I don’t know what is.

A comparison of two defamation lawsuits

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Not an exhaustive comparison, just the highlights.

Ezra Levant is in court today fighting:

“an exceedingly political lawsuit” designed to shut him out of public debate, brought by a “master of lawfare.”

The details, so far as we know, include:

Court documents indicate this week’s trial will turn on Mr. Awan’s claim that Mr. Levant, on his blog in 2009, “variously described [him] as “Khurrum Awan the liar,” “stupid, a “fool,” a “serial, malicious, money-grubbing liar,” and “unequivocally implied that he was an anti-Semite and perjurer.”

Mr. Awan is asking for $50,000 in damages.

I will be attending Discoveries on Thursday for Michael Bird’s defamation suit against me. I can’t go into the specifics of what was said that has upset the bishop, but his claim for damages against me is $400,000.

An interesting contrast in amounts sought between the secular and the ecclesiastical.