‘Out of time’: Kamloops mayor’s delays in defamation case could be over

The mayor of Kamloops will have his day in court next week as his defamation case against a rival councillor goes before a judge.

Coun. Katie Neustaeter is expected to argue the defamation suit is merely an attempt to silence her and should be dropped, but Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson is expected to try delaying the case yet again.

“Funny how hard it is to get a lawyer when another makes an event of things,” the embattled mayor said, alluding to efforts by his two previous lawyers seeking payment through the courts.

Hamer-Jackson hired Alberta lawyer James Kitchen on July 3, the same lawyer who was initially hired to represent opponents to $136 million in loans for civic projects and the counter petition process used to approve it.

In a July 4 application, he’s asking the court to delay the hearing yet again.

“As the record makes painfully clear, the applicant is and has been out of his depth and has all times required the assistance of legal counsel,” the application reads.

Hamer-Jackson filed a defamation suit against Neustaeter two years ago, but the mayor’s lawyer dropped him as a client in the lead up to a January 2025 hearing due to unpaid bills.

Despite repeated urging from Neustaeter’s lawyer since November, Hamer-Jackson hasn’t responded in court to her effort to toss the defamation suit — an application known as an anti-SLAPP.

A hearing was previously set for January and Hamer-Jackson promised to submit a written response in advance more than a week before it would have started, according to an affidavit filed by Neustaeter’s defence.

He didn’t submit a response and her lawyer, Daniel Reid, has exchanged numerous emails with Hamer-Jackson since.

In April, Hamer-Jackson asked Neustaeter’s lawyer when the defence would submit their evidence, and he responded to say it was already done months earlier.

“Please advise when you will be filing an application response. You are well out of time for doing so – you have had the notice of application and affidavit materials for months and have not filed anything in response,” he said in an April 24 email to the mayor.

Throughout the emails, he warned Hamer-Jackson that “threatening” to subpoena witnesses for affidavits was “improper” because it couldn’t be done at that stage. He warned by June that he would argue against any evidence the mayor tries to bring to court because of the overdue response.

Hamer-Jackson, meanwhile, asked why some evidence was or wasn’t included and how to pursue affidavits from people who won’t volunteer them. When Neustaeter’s lawyer said he can’t give legal advice, Hamer-Jackson said he had been trying but was unable to find a lawyer. Hamer-Jackson said “can’t afford” legal advice, while adding Neustaeter is set to be reimbursed.

“This is not a debate. It is a legal process, one which you commenced. I urge you to obtain legal counsel and reiterate my request that you file material if you wish to participate in the hearing next month,” Neustaeter’s lawyer said in a June 11 email.

If the anti-SLAPP application is successful, Hamer-Jackson could be on the hook to pay Neustaeter’s legal bills in addition to his own.

Asked whether he is concerned about Neustaeter’s effort to dismiss the case, Hamer-Jackson said he is “a firm believer the truth will come out.”

The defamation case itself stems from a March 2023 press conference in which Neustaeter read a council statement aloud, accusing Hamer-Jackson of bullying and breaching professional boundaries.

No specifics were initially provided, but it was one of the first major public-facing signs of a fractured Kamloops city council and an alienated mayor.