Wilfrid Laurier University requests court dismiss Jordan Peterson’s defamation lawsuit

The National Post ‘exclusively’ reported that Wilfrid Laurier University asked the court to dismiss Jordan Peterson’s lawsuit against them, one he filed years ago for defamation.

Wilfrid Laurier University requests court dismiss Jordan Peterson’s defamation lawsuit
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On the morning of December 8, 2022, the National Post reported exclusively that Wilfrid Laurier University asked a court to dismiss the lawsuit Jordan Peterson, world-renowned psychologist and ex-tenured professor at the University of Toronto, brought against the school in 2018. Peterson now works with The Daily Wire.

Peterson filed a $1.5M worth lawsuit against Wilfrid Laurier University in 2018 for defamation after the university criticized then-teacher’s assistant Lindsay Sheppard for showing a video of him during one of her class tutorials.

“The plaintiff claims against the defendant, [...] 500 thousand for defamation, 500 thousand for injurious falsehood, 500 thousand in punitive damages, [and more],” Peterson read.

At the time, Sheppard had shown an extract from a TVO show where Peterson explained his views on the use of alternative pronouns, which resulted in Sheppard having to undergo an disciplinary meeting with the administration. 

Peterson argues the comments made during the meeting between the administration and Sheppard were defamatory against him. 

They intended to discredit him, he also argued. The statement of claim reportedly stated that the university also called him “academically suspect” and claimed he exhibited “charlatanism.” 

As reported by the National Post, “in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, filed in court in late November, Laurier invokes a legal provision that’s meant to, according to the Courts of Justice Act, ‘discourage the use of litigation as a means of unduly limiting expression on matters of public interest.’”

Tyler Dawson, the journalist with the National Post who published the story originally, also wrote that no decision has been made yet by the court.

Dawson added, “Kathryn Marshall, a National Post columnist and lawyer who’s representing Peterson along with Toronto labour lawyer and Financial Post columnist Howard Levitt, said [...] they will contest the use of an “anti-SLAPP” rule.”

Peterson has not yet made any public comments regarding this development. 

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