Appeals court rules ex-cop’s lawsuit can proceed

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The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a judge’s ruling to dismiss a former London police officer’s lawsuit against his ex-wife and two women’s advocates, saying allowing the case to proceed won’t have a “chilling effect of victims of abuse.”

Marcel Marcellin, a former police sergeant and city hall staffer, launched a $4-million lawsuit in 2020 against his ex-wife, the London Abused Women’s Centre and its former executive director Megan Walker, and Anova and its former director Kate Wiggins, alleging he lost his job and had his reputation tarnished after being charged with assaulting his ex-wife.

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The defendants filed a motion arguing the legal action was a so-called strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) and Superior Court Justice Spencer Nicholson dismissed the case in 2022, saying Marcellin’s role with the city overseeing the U.N. Women’s Safe Cities initiative elevated the case from private to public.

Nicholson called the lawsuit “vengeful” and concluded it was brought forward to “silence” the defendants.

But the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Nicholson made “reversible errors” and ordered the lawsuit to proceed, according to a decision released Thursday.

“I disagree with the motion judge’s conclusion, without evidence, that allowing the action to proceed could have a chilling effect on victims of abuse. There is no evidence of the respondents or anyone else having been inhibited by the action from free expression about domestic abuse or victims’ rights,” a panel of appeal judges wrote in its decision.

“The targets of the action are expressions that are specifically defamatory of Mr. Marcellin, and there is no identifiable public interest in permitting those expressions to continue. Allowing the action to proceed would not in my view deter others from speaking out about domestic abuse and violence.”

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Marcellin was going through an ugly custody dispute with his ex-wife in 2018 when Walker and Wiggins pressured him to abandon his family law claims or suffer serious consequences, his statement of claim alleges.

Walker and Wiggins met with then-city manager Martin Hayward in 2018 and made false statements about his character and past treatment of his ex-wife, asking Hayward to remove Marcellin from the Safe Cities file and to threaten to fire him if he didn’t drop his family law proceedings, his lawsuit alleges.

Marcellin alleges that campaign led to criminal charges against him and his eventual firing.

London police charged Marcellin with two counts of assault in 2018, for alleged incidents from 1995 and 1996. The charges were withdrawn after Marcellin signed a peace bond, an agreement with the court to obey set conditions for a period of time.

Wiggins and Walker, who both provided Marcellin’s ex-wife with counselling and support during her family law proceedings, deny all allegations of improper conduct, including making false accusations, influencing Marcellin’s city hall firing or inserting themselves into the family law case, according to their statements of defence.

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They also deny writing or making any defamatory statements, saying anything they’re alleged to have said or wrote “relate to a public interest designed to promote broad participation in public debate over the appropriateness of appointing men with a history of perpetrating violence against women to positions of leadership and power,” the statement of defence says.

Statements of claim and statements filed in response contain allegations not yet proven in court.

The Ontario Court of Appeals panel rejected Nicholson’s conclusion that there was no way to gauge the harm Marcellin suffered.

“There was considerable evidence of harm to Mr. Marcellin’s reputation, employment and job prospects,” the panel wrote.

“(Nicholson’s) conclusion that Mr. Marcellin had mitigated his damages by finding other employment both ignored the evidence that Mr. Marcellin had been out of work for over a year and confused the damages Mr. Marcellin was claiming with issues that would be litigated in his wrongful dismissal action.”

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Lawyer Phillip Millar, who worked on Marcellin’s appeal but is no longer involved in the case, called the Ontario Court of Appeals’ decision “one of the strongest rebukes I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a landmark decision that’s addressing a misuse of the anti-SLAPP legislation that was meant to protect victims, but it is being used to prevent people from getting justice who are wrongfully accused,” Millar said.

The panel also overturned an order awarding the defendants more than $200,000 in legal costs and ordered them to pay Marcellin $35,000 to pay for his appeal.

Marcellin is also suing London and Woodstock police, alleging they didn’t conduct a proper investigation into his allegations that Walker and Wiggins harassed and extorted him. Both police forces have denied the allegations in their statement of defence.

dcarruthers@postmedia.com

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