Canadian Lawyer

www.canadianlawyermag.com 7 TrueNorthStrong, TuesdayNightRid and CrazyTrader12. The anonymous internet users accused the pharmaceutical company of operating "unlawfully and improperly," and said the managers were "untruthful and unprofes- sional" and "incompetent managers who have committed criminal acts," at one point using misogynistic slurs. Stockhouse.com could only provide email addresses associated with the accounts. The lawyers informed the so-called trolls of the lawsuit through the forum and the email addresses. Myers ordered the defendants to pay substantial indemnity costs of $55,000 all-inclusive and assigned each troll indi- vidual damages awards of $10,000 and up, based on the severity of the defamation. Although it may be difficult to collect the award, Erskine says it was important to her client that its reputation be restored. Erskine says the decision could provide useful precedent in multiple areas of the law. For one, she says, it will likely cause people posting anonymously to think twice about if they will stand behind their postings if they have to come forward and defend them. Myers' approach to calculating damages — by assessing each poster's comments individually — was also novel, says Erskine. "It's a circumstance in which the courts and the law of defamation is keeping pace with the times and technology," says Erskine. "Because today, there are so many ways in which indi- viduals can hide behind a pseudonym, and make an anonymous posting and make it very, very difficult for individuals to pursue them for the things that they are posting. So Justice Myers' decision now demonstrates there can be consequences for anonymous posters. In the past, that wasn't the case." Cries for independent wrongful conviction commission Q&A - Member of the Order of Canada - Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient - Served record number of terms as LSO bencher - Degrees: BA, LLB, LLM and LLD Clayton Ruby Lawyer at Ruby Shiller Enenajor DiGiuseppe Barristers in Toronto Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandate letter to Justice Minister David Lametti said that Lametti, also the nation's attorney general, should establish "an independent Criminal Case Review Commission to make it easier and faster for potentially wrongfully convicted people to have their applications reviewed." Criminal lawyer Clayton Ruby says he hopes the government creates a truly impartial body to investigate cases of potential wrongful conviction. Q: The prime minister expects the justice minister this year to look into a Criminal Case Review Commission. Is this important and, if so, why? What would you like to see the justice minister ideally do with this mandate? A: "No system is even close to foolproof. . . . But what is humiliating is that we don't have an effective mechanism for uncovering and revers- ing miscarriages of justice. "We have a system run out of the attorney general's office, which is staffed primarily by prosecutors and has the totally wrong point of view. They think like prosecutors — like people who worked hand in glove with the police all their lives. And they have trouble challenging the police. So, the principal thing I look to in the new system is: Is it really independent? "There's two ways to make sure this new office achieves nothing. And one is to relabel it but not change the personnel so they don't have such close ties to the police. The second one is to starve it, underfund it. And that's maybe the biggest danger." Q: What are the areas where funding would have a big im- pact on helping the cause to right wrongful convictions? A: "You need someone who will reinvestigate in a meaningful way. "So, for example, many of these cases are cases of junk science. So you need to have access to experts with lots of experience. And that's expensive. "And you need to make sure that the lawyers who were on the case were not unaware of scientific evidence that could have been made available. It's hard to keep up with the latest techniques — really hard. "And then, lastly, there's the question of police misconduct, which I think forms the largest category of causes of wrongful convictions. And that involves having investigators who can challenge the police." there can be consequences for anonymous posters. In the past, that wasn't the case."

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