Journalist Alain Gravel and Société Radio-Canada are jointly ordered to pay $60,000 in damages to businessman Lee Lalli, who was the subject of a report on the program Investigation titled “Mafia Mined Land”, broadcast in March 2013.
Posted at 12:42 p.m.
The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday refused to hear an appeal by the journalist and the Crown corporation, which were challenging a decision by the Quebec Court of Appeal rendered last October jointly obliging Alain Gravel and Radio -Canada to pay the $60,000 in question.
The report focused on a staggering profit from real estate transactions carried out by Mr. Lalli and linked him to known members of the Italian mafia in Montreal.
Lee Lalli had filed a lawsuit for $300,000, consisting of $200,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages, alleging damage to his honor, dignity and reputation. The lawsuit was initially dismissed by Superior Court Judge Lukasz Granosik, who found that the reporting was “rigorous” and that the evidence of such damages was “non-existent”.
Distorted image of reality
The Court of Appeal, however, made a completely opposite analysis. The decision of the bench of three judges, written by Judge Jocelyn Rancourt, noted that Mr. Lalli had been “portrayed as a person with Mafia connections and access to the City, which allowed him to make an immense profit at following the sale of land purchased for $50,000 and resold for $4,500,000”.
According to Judge Rancourt, “the most serious fault committed by [Alain] Gravel and the SRC lies in the distorted image of reality resulting from the general impression emerging from the report of the program Investigation “.
This general impression was reflected in the following elements: “Lalli, a member of the Mafia, bought land worth $50,000, which he sold for $4,500,000 a few years later, thanks to an arbitration conducted by mob boss Vito Rizzuto, as well as three zoning changes. Lalli forged the signature of one of the Foundation’s representatives to obtain a power of attorney allowing him to request the first zoning change. It was thanks to his political contacts that Lalli obtained these zoning changes, because [le maire de Montréal, Michael] Applebaum endorsed them against the advice of his specialists. »
“This general impression distorts the reality”, judge Rancourt then decided.
The judge pointed out, among other things, that the transaction had been carried out in two parts totaling 1.85 million and, therefore, that “the price paid is not really $50,000. [Alain] Gravel knows this and still chooses to present the whole thing as if it were an outright sale for $50,000”.
Then, he continued, “the report clearly implies that Lalli benefited from the sale of the land for $4,500,000 in 2007 when Lalli had not owned the land since 2006”. The elements of zoning change put forward in the report were unfounded, added the magistrate: “There has therefore been no zoning change. »
Mafia links
Among his other criticisms, the judge noted that “the report gives the clear impression that Lalli is part of the mafia and not just that he has “links” with people from this criminal organization. […] Yet all the information held by [Alain] Gravel reveals is that Lalli knows [Vito] Rizzuto, [Tony] Magi and [Frederico] Del Peschio, that he is a good friend of the latter and that he has already rendered services having nothing illegal to [Vito] Rizzuto. [Alain] Gravel has no information that would reveal Lalli’s involvement in Mafia-related criminal activity. »
In short, he concluded, [Alain] Gravel was at fault both in his gathering of information by not respecting professional journalistic standards and in his way of presenting the information. The portrait of the facts is distorted. It aims to tell a story that is more catchy, more sensational and more interesting than it actually is. These faults are also attributable to the CBC,” wrote the judge.
The Supreme Court thus endorses these conclusions.
No punitive damages
Moreover, the decision was accompanied by an addition by judge Martin Vauclair, who would have condemned Alain Gravel, but not Radio-Canada, to pay an additional $15,000 in punitive damages. Judge Vauclair considered that “the decisions taken and the faults committed by [Alain] Gravel are considered wrongful acts which, in the context, could not help but render the damage to the appellant’s reputation extremely probable”.
“The report was clearly aimed at linking the caller to the Italian mafia and corruption for the sale of land for huge profits. To do this, the report presents facts that [Alain] Gravel knows incomplete and inaccurate,” wrote Judge Vauclair at the time.
Judge Vauclair recalled that “it is indisputable that the media play a leading role in a free and democratic society. But precisely because this role is essential and important, it comes with responsibilities. As the Supreme Court writes, “despite its undeniable importance, freedom of expression is not absolute, […] freedom of expression may be limited by the requirements of the right of others to the protection of their reputation”.
The other two judges, however, did not support this desire to impose punitive damages.