Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Pexels.com

Heads up, all jilted lovers thinking of taking to social media for a little revenge — instead of the last laugh, you might be handing over your last dollar.

A Vancouver man was awarded more than $200,000 in damages from a former lover who took her vengeance way too far. When their on-again, off-again relationship finally ended in 2016, she published hundreds of defamatory attacks on him on Instagram, The Dirty, STD registry sites, cheater sites as well as several business sites to defame him to his peers. She even attacked his ex-wife.

In a case from September only published to the court website this week, a judge awarded Brandon Rook $200,000 plus expenses. Justice Elliott Myers said Noelle Halcrow, an unemployed former salesperson for Parfums Christian Dior, made the posts out of “spite and animosity and for the purpose of injuring (Rook)."

The only defence she attempted was to claim she didn’t make the statements but Myers quickly found that claim not credible because they were tied to her Internet address and no one else had motive to do it. She did not claim any of her statements were true and they are all deemed false and defamatory.

Rook has worked for, lead and owned businesses in the mining industry and said his reputation now as a consultant was crucial to his career. Among her many false claims, she made defamatory statements on business review sites.

"Ms. Halcrow mounted a campaign against Mr. Rook that was as relentless as it was extensive,” Myers wrote. “She was motivated by malice.”

The judge listed 91 messages she posted between Aug. 6, 2016 and Aug. 1, 2017.

Rook spent nearly $30,000 on reputation management consultants who helped get the posts removed. She also has to pay those expenses as well as his court costs. The Justice also granted an injunction restraining her or anyone else from repeating her claims.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Marshall Jones or call 250-718-2724 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2020