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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Jury At Defamation Trial Told What Choices It Has

The jury has alot to consider in its deliberations at the defamation trial of former Common Councillor John Ferguson.

It took Mr. Justice William Grant two hours to deliver his instructions on what the jury has to examine.

The jury has three choices......It could assess all of Ferguson's statements about the city's pension plan as a whole......Assess the statements made on the individual dates or even all of them individually.

The jury must decide if Ferguson acted in good faith or out of malice.

If it decides Ferguson was malicious then it will be up to the jury to assess damages which could range from trivial, as little as a cent, to substantial and there is no cap or guidance from the judge.