Dear readers, as it turns out it’s hard spending every working minute listening to court proceedings while digging into the court registry and coming back up with the balanced reporting that you deserve. So, thank you for your patience while I ground myself in the evidence, submissions and oral arguments that have been put on the public record this past week.
As you know this entire fiasco is a complicated story to begin with but in its current stage (as an application to dismiss Galloway’s suit under the PPPA) it is particularly bloated with information and a whole lot of paper. I’ll write more about this issue of bloat (and how Madam Justice Adair is handling it) soon but first I just want to update you on the timing of the hearing and how this is dictating the timing of my reporting to come.
Timing of Galloway v. A.B. SLAPP Hearing
There are 11 applications to dismiss under the PPPA. All eleven applicants present their oral arguments first. Galloway’s counsel, Daniel Burnett, Q.C., will then present his arguments opposing their applications. The defendants will then be given the right of reply to Mr. Burnett’s arguments.
A.B’s lawyers, Joanna Birenbaum and David Wotherspoon, Q.C., presented their oral arguments over the first two and a half days, followed by Keith Maillard and Annabel Lyon’s lawyer Karen Zimmer who finished on Friday with just enough time for Chelsea Rooney’s lawyer to begin her opening arguments.
This means that in the first week only three applicants (A.B., Maillard, and Lyon) have completed their arguments, leaving 8 more to go, but bear in mind that A.B., Maillard, Lyon and Rooney have the most complicated applications since they were involved in the inciting incidents at UBC. The remainder of the applicants will be relatively quick since their issues are strictly related to online defamation and they aren’t pleading as many defences.
Madam Justice Adair has been repeatedly checking in on the issue of timing and has added one day to the proceedings. So the hearing is now expected to finish on Friday April 16th.
Timing of My Posts
While I can see the benefit of providing daily updates, this approach would mean giving incomplete information since the most important issues at hand span multiple days and involve arguments from counsel for all eleven applicants and of course the plaintiff. So, I will be posting updates at the pace of the trial while structuring them around the important legal issues rather than the chronology of the hearing.
I hope to be posting my first substantive update in the next few days and from there the follow ups will come more frequently. This will include a post by my first commissioned writer which I’m excited to share with you.
There is indeed a lot to report which means my posts will spill into the days following the hearing, while some of the more exhaustive reporting on key issues will spill into the weeks and months after the hearing while we await Madam Justice Adair’s decision.
Thank you again for your patience. This story never stops giving and I look forward to sharing all the new information with you in the days to come. It won’t be long now.