Lawsuit Against Journalist Stacey Newman Comes to an End

MILTON, ON, Oct. 22, 2018 /CNW/ - The lawsuit filed by former Liberal Party candidate Azim Rizvee against journalist Stacey Newman has been abandoned. On October 11, 2018, Rizvee attended a Milton courthouse to formally apply to discontinue his lawsuit. A Superior Court judge ordered that he was barred from re-commencing the lawsuit and ordered him to pay Newman's legal costs. 

This legal saga has been ongoing since 2016, when Rizvee, a prominent Milton businessman and former federal Liberal Party candidate, sued Newman, alleging defamation and malicious prosecution.  

Rizvee had sought and obtained the Liberal Party nomination in the 2015 federal election. During and following that campaign, Newman complained on social media and to the Liberal Party of Canada about Rizvee's bullying and harassment. She also sought a peace bond against Rizvee (which she later agreed to have withdrawn). 

After the election, during which Rizvee was unsuccessful, Rizvee and his wife, Rabiya Azim, sued Newman for $17.5 million ($16.0 million for damages in defamation and $1.5 million in damages for malicious prosecution). 

Newman's lawyers brought a motion to dismiss the action. In 2017, in one of the first decisions to test Ontario's new "anti-SLAPP" legislation aimed at thwarting strategic lawsuits against public participation, a Superior Court judge threw out Rizvee's defamation claims. In doing so, the judge accepted Newman's arguments that her expression about Rizvee and Azim was on a matter of public interest and that the Rizvees' lawsuit was intended to stifle her free speech. 

The 2017 judgment permitted Rizvee's malicious prosecution claim to continue. Rizvee took no meaningful steps to advance his claim yet refused to formally abandon it until Newman's lawyers threatened to bring a motion to have the remaining part of the lawsuit tossed. Rizvee then moved to formally abandon his lawsuit. In the October 11 decision, a judge granted Rizvee permission to abandon his suit, but ordered that he pay Newman's costs and precluded him from bringing it again. Justice Conlan wrote:

"In my view, it is unreasonable for any plaintiff to think that s/he can commence a claim for millions of dollars, allege some of the most serious causes of action known to our civil justice system (defamation and malicious prosecution), and then (for whatever reason) wholly discounting the action more than two years later while resting immune from any costs award and further, while preserving his or her ability to litigate the case another day."

Throughout these proceedings, Newman was represented by Nader Hasan and Carlo Di Carlo of the law firm Stockwoods LLP.

"Our position from the start was that this was a frivolous lawsuit intended only to intimidate Ms. Newman," Hasan said. "This case is an important reminder that the wealthy and powerful cannot use our legal system to stifle criticism. I hope that the Liberal Party takes note. Ms. Newman's allegations against the Rizvees were well known to the Liberal Party prior to the 2015 election. I hope that the Party does a better job at vetting its candidates going forward." 

"I am relieved this is over. My family and I are grateful to my excellent Counsel, and for the support we've received from strangers and friends throughout this ordeal," said Newman. "I believe in our democratic process, part of which is that concerns be heard and investigated. I hope my case will provide some comfort to those who dare to speak up."

SOURCE Stockwoods LLP