Judge tosses out defamation lawsuit against comedian Mike Ward

Montreal comedian Mike Ward has won another legal battle after a judge tossed out a defamation suit launched by the mother of Jeremy Gabriel.

On Jan. 31, Gabriel's mother, Sylvie Gabriel, sued the comedian for $84,600 in a civil suit filed in the Court of Quebec alleging that she suffered significant damages as a result of Ward's comedy act between 2010 and 2013 in which he mocked her son.

Gabriel, a former child singer, has Treacher Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by abnormalities in the face and skull. He, too, launched a separate civil suit against the celebrity at the same time as his mother in the amount of $288,000, which is still before the court.

His mother alleged Ward had "malicious intent" and sought to "ridicule, humiliate, and expose them to the hatred or contempt of his audience" with his jokes, which she said led to her suffering from insomnia, "lost confidence in people," and to her taking antidepressants for several years.

Ward responded to the mother's legal action by asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it was "ill-founded" since it was filed past the one-year deadline as prescribed by the Civil Code of Quebec. He also called it an abuse of process, citing, among other things, the splitting of the lawsuits between mother and son, and the dollar amount being sought.

The judge agreed with Ward, in part, by ruling the lawsuit was inadmissible since it was time-barred. However, he did not declare the case an abuse of process.

"The plaintiff cannot be criticized for having, in the context of this case, attempted to pursue the only recourse still available to her. Admittedly, it is late, but it does not mean that it is abusive behaviour," wrote Justice Manon Gaudreault in her May 30 judgment.

Ward has filed a motion to dismiss Jeremy's lawsuit as well. A hearing for that matter is scheduled for June 29 in Quebec City's Superior Court, according to his legal team.

The mother and son turned to the civil courts after being dealt a major blow by the Supreme Court of Canada last October. The highest court ruled in a 5-4 split decision that Ward did not cross the line of freedom of expression in making jokes about Jeremy, writing that the comedian's jokes did not meet the criteria for discrimination since he was ridiculed because of his fame and not his disability.

Jeremy said he faced constant bullying in school and fell into a depression as a result of the comedian's remarks, but the Supreme Court said in its ruling that Ward did not incite others to make fun of him.

Since the high court ruling last fall — viewed by many as a victory for free speech — Quebec's human rights commission said it had dropped dozens of cases involving allegations of discriminatory comments.