Vernon Supreme Court

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

A Vernon couple messed around on Facebook, making derogatory statements about a builder, and found out that's a quick path to a lawsuit for defamation.

Vernon homebuilder JCB Contracting filed suit against former clients Peter and Kimberly Marschall over posts they made on Facebook after clearing a major hurdle.

The Marschalls tried to get the suit dismissed by the lawsuit by claiming the lawsuit was a so-called SLAPP suit, or a lawsuit against public participation. They claimed they were speaking on a matter in the public interest, but the judge quickly dispatched the argument in a BC Supreme Court in Vernon last month, according to a recently published decision.

It all started in 2018, when the Marschalls hired JCB Contracting, owned by Jason Barnett, to build them a home in La Casa. Part way through the project they discovered the bylaws in the neighbourhood did not allow for the type of home they wanted to build and the project had to stop.

A disagreement ensued over who owed who money, and both parties ended their relationship.

Fifteen months later, the Marschalls took their grievance with JCB to a neighbourhood Facebook group and made a number of statements Barnett considered defamatory.

Following the Facebook tirade, Barnett decided to sue the Marschalls for defamation. In response, the Marschalls attempted to have the court dismiss the lawsuit saying it was brought forward in an effort to silence the couple’s freedom of expression.

Justice G.P. Weatherill ruled that the lawsuit will go ahead because “the harm caused to the plaintiffs by (one post) was serious enough” to go to trial where another judge will decide whether or not it is defamation.

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