CALGARY – A Calgary homebuilder suing Naheed Nenshi for defamation has been ordered to pay back some of the mayor’s legal bills.
A Court of Queen’s Bench judge ordered Cal Wenzel of Shane Homes to pay Nenshi $10,000.
The homebuilder wanted a judge to rule on the lawsuit without going to trial but the judge threw out that application and ordered legal costs to be paid back to the mayor.
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Wenzel is seeking $6 million in damages for public remarks made by the mayor during the 2013 civic election campaign.
In his ruling, Justice David Gates called this “a very significant amount when viewed in the context of other damage awards in defamation cases in Canada.”
Wenzel claims his reputation was damaged by those statements following the release of a secretly-taped video uncovered by Global News.
Nenshi denied the allegation and filed a statement of defence.
A three-week trial before a jury is scheduled for February.
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