B.C. Appeal Court overturns defamation suit by Greens’ Weaver against newspaper

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial in a defamation lawsuit against the National Post by climate-scientist and politician Andrew Weaver, who was originally awarded $50,000 in damages.

The lawsuit involved four articles published by the Post in 2009 and 2010 that Weaver claimed defamed him by implying he fabricated stories about the fossil fuel industry and allegedly engaged in deceitful, unscientific conduct.

A B.C. Supreme Court justice found Weaver was defamed, but the appeal court overturned the decision, saying the judge made a mistake by considering the four articles together.

At the time the articles were published, Weaver was a University of Victoria professor who had participated in a U.N. panel on climate change, but he's now the leader of the Green party in B.C.'s legislature.

The unanimous ruling from the panel of three judges says the trial judge should not have taken a combined approach to the articles, noting there was no case made of a conspiracy or concerted action by the authors.

Weaver called the decision interesting today, but says he'll have to leave the appeal to his lawyer as he has an election campaign to run in B.C.