Court FiteNo. 1] - OAS ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE BETWEEN: MARC BISS Plaintiff -and- ANTHONY VELTRI Defendant STATEMENT OF CLAIM TO THE DEFENDANT: A LEGAL PROCEEDING HAS BEEN COMMENCED AGAINST YOU by the plaintiff. The claim made against you is set out in the following pages. IF YOU WISH TO DEFEND THIS PROCEEDING, you or an Ontario lawyer acting for you must prepare a statement of defence in Form 18A prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure, serve it on the plaintiff's lawyer or, where the plaintiff does not have a lawyer, serve it on the plaintiff, and file it, with proof of service in this court office, WITHIN TWENTY DAYS after this statement of claim is served on you, if you are served in Ontario. If you are served in another province or territory of Canada o in the United States of America, the period for serving and filing your statement of defence is forty days. If you are served outside Canada and the United States of America, the period is sixty days. Instead of serving and filing a statement of defence, you may serve and file a notice of intent to defend in Form 18B prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure. This will entitle you to ten more days within which to serve and file your statement of defence. IF YOU FAIL TO DEFEND THIS PROCEEDING, JUDGMENT MAY BE GIVEN AGAINST YOU IN YOUR ABSENCE AND WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE TO YOU. IF YOU WISH TO DEFEND THIS PROCEEDING BUT ARE UNABLE TO PAY LEGAL FEES, LEGAL AID MAY BE AVAILABLE TO YOU BY CONTACTING A LOCAL LEGAL AID OFFICE. IF YOU PAY THE PLAINTIFF'S CLAIM, and $3,500.00 for costs, within the time for serving and filing your statement of defence, you may move to have this proceeding dismissed by the court. If you believe the amount claimed for costs is excessive, you may pay the plaintifi’s claim and $400.00 for costs and have the costs assessed by the court.TAKE NOTICE: THIS ACTION WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE DISMISSED ii has not been set down for trial or terminated by any means within five years after the action ‘was commenced unless otherwise ordered by the court. 417 Date Febhfey! +2017 Issued by Local Registrar Address of 75 Mulcaster Street Courthouse: Barrie, Ontario L4M 3P2 TO: ANTHONY VELTRI 263 Tupper Boulevard Alliston, Ontario LOR 1A8CLAIM 1, The Plaintiff claims against the Defendant Anthony Veltri (hereinafter, “Veltri”) a) A declaration that Veltri defamed the Plaintit b) A declaration that Veltri has committed the tort of Public Disclosure of Private Facts; ) General damages in the sum of $1.0 Million; d) Punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages in the sum of $250,000.00; ) Special damages in an amount to be determined for loss of business and economic harm; 1) Prejudgment and postjudgment interests in accordance with the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.0. 1990, ¢.C. 43; 2) Costs of this action on a substantial indemnity basis: h) Such further and other relief as to This Honourable Court seems just. Parties 2. The Plaintiff is an individual who resides in the Town of New Tecumseth in the Province of Ontario and currently serves as the Ward | Councillor on the Town of New Tecumseth Council 3. Veltri is an individual residing in the Town of New Tecumseth in the Province of Ontario who at all material times was an amateur blogger who published his blog postings on a website known as “New Tecumseth Free Press On-line ~ Madhunt.com” as well as on his personal, public Facebook page. Despite the name of the “Free Press” website suggesting that it publishes objective news stories consistent with journalistic integrity, Veltri has no journalistic credentials, q tions or affiliations. Furthermore, as will be detailed below, Veltri publishes “news” stories on the “Free Press” website in respect of which he is in a blatant personal conflict of interest, in breach of fundamental principles of journalistic integrity.The Defamatory Statements 4. On or about January 11, 2017, following a Town of New Tecumseth Council meeting, Veltri published the following false and defamatory comments about the Plaintiff: (a) Para, 3 ~ “as dumb as that statement really is” (referencing a quoted statement purportedly made by Mr. Biss): suggests Mr. Biss is stupid and unintelligent; (b) Para. 5 - “[The developer’s] pants were probably stained after that happy ending” (again referring to a quoted statement purportedly made by Mr. Biss): suggests Mr. Biss is incompetent as a Councillor and his actions ‘were contrary to the interests of the municipality he represents; (©) Para. 6 ~ “Surely, the FLATO naming rights and their pending battles for official plan and zoning bylaw amendments — no small feats — are merely coincidences, and in Biss’s [sic] view, are merely to ‘make our community stronger.””: the innuendo is that Mr. Biss was colluding with the developer to obtain an advantage it would not otherwise be entitled to, to the detriment of the Municipality. In fact, the first time Mr. Biss had ever seen or spoken to Mr. Shakir Rehmatullah (President of FLATO Developments) was at the Council meeting referenced in the blog posting by Veltri. The suggestion or innuendo of backroom dealings between Mr. Biss and a developer is false and defamatory; (@) Para. 7 ~““And then there’s the ‘world cla is incompetent and incoherent; ” Gibberish”: suggests Mr. Biss (e) Para. 7 — “Maybe it’s like a used car salesman who soft sells a Pinto as a misunderstood, but fuel efficient ride, that needed a better PR. firm”: suggests Mr. Biss is unethical, unprincipled and fraudulent: (D Para. 8 - “This is a councillor who asked one of the arts groups, when they expect to tum a profit”: this claim is false and suggests Mr. Biss is anti-arts and incompetent; (g) Para 8 ~ “This is a councillor who brags about all the user fee hikes they’ve inflicted on our community users”: this claim is false and suggests Mr. Biss holds the community in contempt; (h) Para. 8 ~ “Biss and his band of nickel and dimers, is wrestling the Banting Foundation over $20,000 because grants aren’t supposed to be used to offset operating costs”: this claim is false and suggests Mr. Biss is anti- culture and is incompetent in his duties as a councillor. It further falsely suggests he is the leader and organizer of a group opposed to the interests of the Municipality and unfairly singles him out from among a number ofother councillors who apparently, outlook: dependently, happen to share his (i) Para, 9 ~ “what the f**k is going on here”: suggests Mr. Biss is incompetent and is placing the Municipality in dire straits 5. In addition to being defamatory and false, the January 11, 2017 blog posting made reference to Mr. Biss’ personal business affairs and that of his parents which was maliciously calculated to embarrass the Plaintiff and his family. The publication of these facts constitutes the tort of Public Disclosure of Private Facts unnecessarily related to the political issues purportedly being commented upon. 6. The January 11, 2017 posting was in fact only the most recent posting by Veltri in his calculated and malicious campaign to defame, embarrass and destroy the reputation of the Plaintiff (Veltri himself described his January 11, 2017 posting as a “rant” and that he had been “hard” on the Plaintiff in the past although he stated that he was not at all sorry about it). 7. Particulars of Veltri’s past false and defamatory postings on the New Tecumseh Free Press On-line ~ Madhunt.com site as well as on Veltri’s public Facebook page are as follows: (a) May 3, 2015 - “It’s a cheap political stunt” [in reference to the Plaintiff's proposal of having local school children sing the national anthem before council meetings): suggests Mr. Biss is disingenuous and untrustworthy; (b) June 27, 2016 — “shouldn't Mare’s conflict of interest be noted somewhere on that appointment?” [in reference to his wife being appointed to the Heritage Committee]: falsely suggests Mr. Biss broke rules or acted unsavorily, underhandedly and secured some sort of personal advantage to himself through his public office; (©) October 2, 2016 ~ “Seems at least one councillor, namely Marc Biss, is abusing his position and apparently calling people on the ward boundary review petition - and pitching tales of woe..... But it’s very troubling to hear that Mare Biss, who doesn’t live in the ward he represents, which also is the smallest of the eight wards, finished growing, and the difference between his ward and Ward 3 and Ward 8, is larger than his ward. I've been covering municipal politics in New Tecumseth since 1990, and this is I believe the first time T ean recall hearing about a councillor working a petition to try and avoid the inevitable. What a joke.” ~ this statement was false and Suggests Mr.Biss abuses his position as an elected official and places his personal interest above the public good; (@) October 2, 2016 ~ the statement set out in (c) above was followed 15 minutes later with the posting “It’s definitely not ethical {to contact persons on the ward boundary review petition]”: this statement was false and wrongly suggests that Mr. Biss was engaging in unethical behavior; (©) January 7, 2017 — fin response to a posting by Mare Biss] “I'm sure Rogers TV has some of your early comments Mare calling the NTRC this comment was false and suggested that Mr. Biss was disingenuous and a liar, ( January 9, 2017 —“...1 believe the medical term is ‘delusional™ [in reference to Mr. Biss]: suggests Mr. Biss is mentally ill and unfit to hold office; (g) January 9, 2017 ~ “What councillor Biss misses is those ‘world class cities’ have not only nurtured arts and culture and recteation for centuries, but with public dollars as well. Councillor Biss's [sic] record in two years is very loud and clear where he stood/stands on that front”: this statement concemning Mr. Biss’ voting record is false and suggests Mr, Biss is undermining the ability of New Tecumseth to foster the arts, culture and recreation, Malice 8. The aforesaid statements are defamatory in their natural and ordinary meaning and bear, are intended to bear and were understood by people in New Tecumseth to bear the following additional meanings: (@) The Pl to the detriment of the community; ntiff makes backroom deals with developers for personal gain (b) The Plaintiff is unscrupulous and greedy and has attempted to line his own pocket at the expense of the taxpayers and the commun (©) The Plaintiff is incompetent and acts against the interest of the community;(@) The Plaintiff is untrustworthy and hypocritical in that he preaches a certain set of values yet his voting record on Council is contrary to his claimed position; (©) The Plaintiff engages in unethical behaviour; () The Plaintiff abuses his position as an elected official and places his personal interest above the public good; (g) The Plaintiff is mentally ill and unfit to hold office. 9. The statements made by Veltri and complained of in the Statement of Claim are demonstrably false and were known to be false by the Veltri. In particular, Veltri knew or ought to have known that: (@) The Plaintiff had never met or even spoken to the developer who Veltri has accused the Plaintiff of getting into bed with and making a backroom deal with; (b) The Plaintiff has never bragged about opposing users fees or unduly voted in favour of users fees or other additional financial burdens on the ratepayers of New Tecumseth; (©) The Plaintiff has been a great supporter of the arts and has encouraged ‘New Tecumseth ratepayers to support the arts; (@) The Plaintiff's track record on Council is consistent with the positions he took while running for office; (e) The Plaintiff is a capable and hardworking Councillor who achieves effective results for his constituents; (8), The Plaintiff votes independently on Council out of his conscious and is neither a leader, follower, nor member or any faction on Veltri has repeatedly suggested.10. The aforementioned statements represent a personal vendetta on the part of Veltri against the Plaintiff and as such were malicious. Notwithstanding that a number of objective, fair-minded readers of Veltri’s blog posts have warned Veltri about the impropriety of his relentless, malicious attacks on the Plaintiff and implored him to stop, Veltri has persisted with his malicious, defamatory campaign against the Plaintiff, I. ‘Veltri’s malice is further demonstrated by his statements set out in paras. 7(c) and (d) above. Although masquerading as objective journalism, Veltri was the proponent of the ward boundary review petition and therefore had a personal interest in falsely attacking the Plaintiff about Veltri’s desired boundary changes and failed, contrary to all reasonable standards of journalistic integrity, to reveal this bias and conflict of interest to his readers. In addition, at all material times, Veltri’s statements defaming the Plaintiff were made in furtherance of his professed desire to become Mayor of New Tecumseth. That political ambition, coupled with his perception that the Plaintiff was an obstacle to the achievement of that ambition, was another factor not disclosed to his readers in breach of all reasonable standards of journalistic integrity, and which also directly lead to the malicious and false statements Veltri published about the Plaintiff. 12. Despite notice to Veltri dated February 2, 2017 demanding a retraction and apology Pursuant to S. 5 of the Libel and Slander Act, Veltri has refused or failed to retract or otherwise apologize to the Plaintiff for his defamatory statements, 13, After the Plaintiff's demand for an apology was served on him, Veltri, on or about February 11, 2017, posted on the “Save the Beeton Woods” website a comment “Libel Chill Fund” in relation to a query as to what would be done with a surplus in the 2016 New Tecumseth budget for community grants. This comment could only relate to the Plaintiff's Notice of Libel to Veltri and falsely suggested that the Plaintiff had secured or was seeking public funding for his action against Veltri, In fact, the Plaintiff had not secured or sought funding from the Town for this action against Veltri and is funding it entirely personally, a fact which Veltri was fully aware when he posted his comment. This comment was yet another false and malicious statement calculated to harm the Plaintiff's reputation in the community,Damages 14, The Plaintiff has been and continues to be harmed by the statements made by Veltri both in terms of reputation generally in the community, in his business and as a member of Council. Veltri’s defamatory statements were intended to and have caused harm to the Plaintiff's business interests; 15, Veltri’s statements were motivated by spite, ill-will and malice and were made with knowledge of their falsity, such that they give rise to claims for aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages 16. The Plaintiff proposes that this action be tried at Barrie. February, 2017 BOGHOSIAN + ALLEN LLP FEB 44 2097 Litigation Counsel EB 1 4 2017 65 Queen Street West, Suite 1000 Toronto, Ontario MSH 2M5 David G. Boghosian — LSUC# 28922P Tel: 416-367-5558 Fax: 416-368-1010 Lawyers for the PlaintiffMARC BISS Plai ag ANTHONY VELTRI and’ Defendant Court File No. ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE Proceeding commenced at Barrie STATEMENT OF CLAIM —“— . BOGHOSIAN + ALLEN LLP Litigation Counsel 65 Queen Street West, Suite 1000 Toronto, Ontario MSH 2M5 David G. Boghosian - LSUC# 28922P Tel: 416-367-5558 Fax: 416-368-1010 Lawyers for the PI