I have a friend of a parent who is involved in Girls minor ball (age 15-16) (sister).
The top girls ball team in Edmonton purposefully sandbags games to justify going into "B" provincials in order to win.
Just an FYI - Provincials in girls sports, at least ball, soccer, etc doesnt have a separate AA for Edmonton/Calgary then A for Red Deer, Lethbridge, then B for Airdie, Leduc etc. A team from Edmonton/Calgary could play C provinicals if they wanted to win so badly and there is really nothing stopping them (also, for those of you who are in community leagues, a communitly league in Calgary has somewhere around 50K people to choose so dont gimme the classic excuses). The same is true in reverse, a team from podunk 500 population Alberta can try to get into A provincials if they so choose.
This "friend" of a parent from what I can tell wrote an email to their representative for Alberta Minor ball (who has been ignorant to this fact for years) regarding the issue. No "name-calling" was used but the team and coach were mentioned along with the "sandbagging" techniques that were used and it was termed sandbagging.
The letter somehow made its way through Email to the person mentioned and the parent's friend has subsequently been sued for defemation. In consultation with a local lawyer (I strongly suggested getting a second opinion from a firm in Edmonton) stated that to fight it would be a lost cause do to the lax defamation rules.
Here is how the lawyer stated it:
Person X, Person Y, Person Z (all 3 are die hard flames fans)
Person X calls person Y a greasers fan (definately defamation in this board). Person Y doesnt have a case for defamation unless it can be proved Person X said it.
Same as above except perzon Z overheard, now its up to person X to prove that Person Y is a greasers fan. Not sure how that happens.
Are the defamation laws so without regard for sanity that emails sent in private to one person, if that person forwards them can the original sender be sued for defamation?
I was under the assumtion that email was considered similar to a private conversation except there is a record. I find it personally hard to believe that if I have a conversation with friend over email, and indicate that say a 3rd party friend has lately been a complete ###### that person could then sue me for defamation?
I always thought defamation had to be proved to have a financial or mental burden of some sort - unless that is just US TV crime drama seeping into my brain.
If its true, that defemation is so without sanity, I need to quit posting on message boards
else all the leftists members of this board will sue me
Thanks very much.
MYK