Ontario court orders former Richmond Hill councillor to pay resident $50K

Nick Papa loses after lengthy anti-SLAPP court battle

Yorkregion.com
April 11, 2019
Kim Zarzour

A former Richmond Hill councillor has been ordered by the Superior Court of Justice to pay $50,000 to a local resident after his defamation lawsuit against the resident was dismissed.

In a ruling released Apr. 2, Justice Jill Copeland ordered Nick Papa, councillor for Ward 5 until he was defeated in the 2014 municipal election, to pay full indemnity costs to Frank Zeppieri, a resident in his ward.

The pair had been enmeshed in a lengthy court battle since Zeppieri spoke out against Papa’s stance on a development in the ward.

In January, 2015, Papa launched a $1-million defamation lawsuit against Zeppieri, but the motion was dismissed under the province’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) legislation.

The law is designed to prevent abusive “SLAPP” lawsuits that attempt to silence or financially punish critics who are expressing themselves in matters of public importance.

The judge ruled Zeppieri’s speech was important public interest expression -- “speech about a candidate’s record leading up to and during an election campaign.”

Under the legislation, a party is entitled to costs on the motion on a full indemnity basis -- i.e. what would reasonably have been contemplated as the amount a lawyer would actually charge the client.

In coming to her conclusion, Copeland took into consideration the “reasonable offers to settle” made by Zeppieri in February and October 2015. “The plaintiff (Papa) made a decision to pursue the action in the face of these offers to settle and must now face the cost consequence.”

Zeppieri said he offered, in good faith, a “walk-away” settlement in which each party would absorb his own costs -- which at the time, he said, amounted to about $4,000 each.

Papa countered with a demand for $75,000 plus a half-page retraction in The Liberal, Zeppieri said. Before case went to court in October 2018, he said Papa offered to settle on a walk-away basis, but this time, Zeppieri refused.

“In my opinion, he made me to wait four years, then expected me to cave. What an insult to me,” Zeppieri said, adding Papa’s tactics backfired on him.

“I believe their settlement offer actions showed Papa was a poor loser from the election, trying to intimidate me. This is vindication. People now know I was reasonable and I took the high road. Yes, it was a long haul, but some things are worth fighting for.”

“I just wanted a better world for all, but it turned out to be anti-SLAPP,” Papa responded. “I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not the final judgment. God will be the judge."