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Siemer files appeal
By Steven | January 30, 2009
Vince Siemer has filed an appeal against Cooper J’s judgment awarding $920,000 in damages against him.
Can a person who is debarred from defending a case appeal against it? I guess we’ll find out.
Topics: Defamation | 4 Comments »
4 Responses to “Siemer files appeal”
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January 31st, 2009 at 12:28 am
The answer is clearly yes. If someone is to be debarred from appealing someone would have to make an order that they were. He will of course have to front up with security for costs… And it remains to be seen whether the appeal can succeed without first overturning the debarring.
Question – even though Siemer was debarred from defending the claim, should it still have needed a jury?
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Re a jury – only if a jury notice is issued by one or both of the parties. Presumably it wasn’t.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Siemer says he sought a jury trial, but somewhere along the procedural line was denied it. I haven’t seen any interlocutory decision that addressed the question, but there are about 30 hearings in this case and I haven’t read them all.
I’m not as convinced as Graeme that debarring a defence (an order he unsuccessfully appealed) doesn’t also debar appeal, at least on the merits. Siemer says the CA is slower than usual in giving him a hearing date, so perhaps they’re not sure either.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I think some “on the merits” points would have to be open in some cases, even though a defence was disbarred:
The question of whether something was defamatory, perhaps not; the question of whether something was capable of being defamatory, perhaps so.
Jurisdictional questions would seem to be up as well – if the judge had ordered Siemer’s imprisonment (or any other unavailable relief), I’d like to think an appeal could be brought despite the order debarring a defence.
[I’m also thinking about how injust the whole thing would be, if, for example, there was a limitation defence available – but I’m not sure where that gets me.]