The case of Jeremy Gabriel | Mike Ward avoids defamation suit

A Quebec court judge has dismissed a defamation suit filed by Sylvie Gabriel against a comedian in connection with a comedy he made about a popular disabled teenager who was a singer at the time between 2010 and 2013.

His mother demanded $ 84,600 in compensation from Mike Ward, arguing that the joke he made at the expense of Jeremy Gabriel had caused him significant harm.

The case was dismissed on May 30 by Judge Manon Goudralt. He argues that the one-year deadline for filing a defamation suit has passed – this case takes into account all the time spent in other courts.

Judge Goddard, however, dismisses the comedian’s claim that the case against Ms.^Me Gabriel set out the abuse of the process and the overuse of the legal system.

Judge Gaudreult’s decision is the latest in a long line of legal stories between Gabriel’s family and Mike Ward, a series that has reached the Supreme Court.

In a very divisive judgment (four against five), Mr. The country’s Supreme Court ruled last October that the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal had no jurisdiction to rule on a complaint of discrimination filed by Gabriel. A defamation suit.

Jeremy Gabrielle Teacher has Collins Syndrome, a congenital disease characterized by defects of the skull and face. According to the Supreme Court, the comments made by the comedian about Jeremy Gabriel during a show a few years ago did not meet the criteria for discrimination instigated by applicants.

Mike Ward was a popular singer who appeared in the Vatican with Celine Dion and Pope when he raised Jeremy Gabriel on his shows.

In 2016, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ordered Mike Ward to pay Jeremy Gabriel $ 35,000 and $ 7,000 in moral and punitive damages to his mother, both of whom were victims of discrimination. The appellate court later upheld the verdict and agreed to pay the young man $ 35,000, but canceled the damages owed to his mother.

The case went to the Supreme Court against the protection of human dignity, in the form of dark satire humor, provoking artistic expressions. The Supreme Court of the land found that the singer and his mother had chosen the human rights tribunal – the wrong forum – to pursue their case because it was not a discrimination, but a defamation suit.

Like his mother, Jeremy Gabriel filed a defamation suit against Mike Ward in the High Court; He is seeking $ 288,000 in damages. The comedian’s lawyer, Julius Gray, said in a scheduled hearing on June 29 that he would ask the court to dismiss the case. M^e Gray would argue that this is another abuse.