SUNDRE – A retired Sundre physician and the plaintiff in a case of cyber libel has been awarded $30,000 in damages plus costs in the first of four defamation lawsuits he’s pursuing.
But he isn’t taking any victory laps.
“Ultimately, I’m sad it’s come to this,” said Dr. Glenn Kowalsky, who had previously worked at the Sundre hospital.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kowalsky, drawing from his years of experience in medicine, had been actively posting on Sundre-area Facebook groups health information about updates on the virus and its effects as well as vaccines.
Although he did not mind that people disagreed with the information he was sharing, Kowalsky drew the line when defamatory remarks about him were posted.
After initial efforts to issue cease-and-desist orders in the fall of 2023 along with having the offending comments deleted and a public apology issued were unsuccessful, he decided to proceed with legal action.
An assessment of damages in his favour was issued on Monday, April 14 at the Calgary Court of King’s Bench in the absence of the defendant, Jason Brons, who had not engaged in the lengthy process and failed to appear in court.
The first portion of the proceeding involved Applications Judge L.A. Mattis requesting Kowalsky’s lawyer, Byron Nelson with Inns Law, present evidence that due diligence had been carried out to ensure the defendant had been provided ample opportunity to prepare a response and attend the court date.
“It was a robust discussion,” Nelson told the Albertan. “The courts are very worried and very careful when someone doesn’t participate in the court process, as happened here.”
Mattis was persuaded by the evidence presented.
“After it was ascertained to the satisfaction of the judge that that Mr. Brons had had every opportunity to show up, and he chose not to, then we proceeded without him and the facts of the case were presented to the judge,” said Kowalsky, who attended the proceedings.
“In her judgment, the ruling is that indeed, defamation had been what was – if you will, in medical terms – the diagnosis,” he said.
Nelson argued based on precedents involving other medical professionals, who had been defamed and depending on their circumstances had received damages ranging anywhere between $20,000 to $75,000, that a reasonable amount for his client would be approximately $50,000. The judge agreed on $30,000 plus costs.
“I will say that the judge didn’t take too kindly to Jason’s, how shall I put this, inappropriate commentary on my sexual orientation,” said Kowalsky, who is openly gay.
The amount awarded might come as a surprise to some people, but it is not without legal precedent, said Nelson.
“It’s got to be shocking to people that this sort of judgment comes out of a Facebook argument,” he said, adding, “it is consistent with the law; this was not a landmark ruling or anything. It’s what the law says.”
Although the ruling on the surface might seem like a lot, Kowalsky said he along the way incurred monthly legal expenses of approximately $1,000 and that he’ll be “back on even ground” only if the full amount awarded is actually recovered.
And if the three other defamation suits that remain underway are ruled in his favour, he said he’d end up ahead.
However, his intent has never been to pad his bank account. Rather, Kowalsky said the issue boiled down to principle and the fact that free speech does not mean the freedom to attack and defame other people’s reputations without accountability.
“I take no joy in this,” he said. “It’s just too bad that people can’t be nicer to each other.”
Among the options available to his lawyer are garnishing Brons’ wages, failing which a process could be initiated to seize his freight truck. But the latter is not an avenue Kowalsky wants to go down.
“I’m not in this to screw over a man’s livelihood,” he said. “I’d be very uncomfortable with basically having Jason’s truck called off and sold out from under him. That’s not my style.”
Asked for his thoughts on the outcome of the case, Kowalsky said, “As I told my lawyer, all I wanted in the beginning was the stupid sh*t-flicking at me to stop.
“I had three demands in my cease-and-desist letter: stop flicking sh*t, take down your defamatory postings, and a public apology. That’s all I wanted.
“But everybody else was just too proud or too stupid, too arrogant, to think that they should have to apologize for their actions,” he opined, adding he took the defamatory comments seriously and decided to take legal recourse per his rights.
“It’s just so disappointing in the human race, ultimately. But here we are,” he said.
Responding to a question about whether he derived any sense of satisfaction from the ruling, he said, “No, none.”
While he knows some people who are supportive of his position and even encourage him to “take them for everything they got,” Kowalsky said, “I take no joy in that.”
All he would like to see is people being decent with one another.
“But you know, maybe that’s asking too much these days,” he said.
“I mean, it’s okay to have disagreements. That’s fine.”
However, resorting to personal attacks and character assassination should not be tolerated. Calling someone stupid is one thing, but defaming their professional reputation is entirely different, he said.
“I’ve been called stupid lots; sometimes, I think I am stupid. So you know that one hits the mark often enough – that’s all good,” he said.
“I am absolutely stupid about mechanics. So there you go. Call me stupid. Don’t call me stupid about medicine. And that’s what they ended up doing, and that’s where the defamation happened.”
Nelson said a second order was issued by the judge granting Brons a period of time to respond to the ruling.
The three remaining defendants are Trevor Roy, Brenda Day and Colin McNutt, who have to varying degrees engaged in the legal process.
“They are ongoing. This was the first to be disposed of,” said Nelson.
However, Kowalsky said he given the opportunity would still prefer coming to an agreement and settling out of court.
But in the meantime at least, he’s relieved that rude and defamatory remarks are no longer being posted.
“To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any more untoward comments on social media – at least that anyone has ever let me know,” he said.
“That part of the mission is accomplished. Did I get an apology from any of them? No.”
