In this video, Marty Rabinovitch a lawyer and litigator with Devry Smith Frank LLP (DSF) discusses the defamation matter between Toronto councilor Doug Ford and Police Chief Bill Blair on Global News with Leslie Roberts.

The matter came up when Doug Ford suggested that Bill Blair leaked information about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Bill Blair called that defamation and was considering taking the councilor to court or defamation.

In this interview Marty talk about how most defamation cases are handled and talks about the root causes of most defamation claims. He also provides his opinion on how he thinks this case will settle.

Here is a portion of the segment.

Leslie Roberts: Joining me now is lawyer Marty Rabinovitch. He is with the firm Devry Smith and Frank. Thanks for joining us here, so obviously there’s some politics involved here, police chief versus city council, but are there any grounds for this suit?

Marty Rabinovitch: Well, police chief Blair is alleging that Doug Ford’s comments have damaged his reputation in the eyes of right-minded individuals in society. So essentially, the insinuation is that he is subpoenaing Mayor Ford not necessarily because of a legitimate policing or investigative objective, but rather, as some sort of retribution.

Leslie: Is this a typical case that you might see?

Marty: Not really. Typically, we see cases involving some form of online defamation for example, business owners who are concerned about a damaging comment that was made about their business online or even a negative restaurant review that they don’t feel was based on fact that are true.

Leslie: Typically, will they go before a judge or is there a settlement before it gets to court?

Marty: Typically the matter’s settle.

Leslie: So in this case, what would you expect?

Marty: In this case, I would expect that if there’s an apology the case would probably settle at that point.

Leslie: And as we watch what’s going on at city hall and for those of us watching what can we take away from it?

Marty: Well, be careful what you say and what you write.

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