B.C. court rejects student paper's defamation appeal

B.C.'s highest court has dismissed an appeal by a university newspaper that was ordered to pay $30,000 in damages after a lower court determined it defamed a student at another school. In March 2009, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered The Peak, Simon Fraser University's student newspaper, to compensate Joey Hansen for three articles it ran in 2006. The judge ruled the articles falsely suggested Hansen, who was financial services co-ordinator for the student union at nearby Douglas College, misappropriated funds. The Peak and former copy editor Derrick Harder appealed the ruling, claiming the trial judge was wrong to reject their defence of qualified privilege and responsible communication. But the three-judge B.C. Court of Appeal panel agreed the articles unfairly and inaccurately reported the events at student meeting, as well as a forensic review of the union's finances. The three-judge panel, led by Justice Kathryn Neilson, also said The Peak's efforts to get Hansen's side of the story were inadequate.