Certain corporations do not have cause of action for defamation
8 Certain corporations do not have cause of action for defamation
(1) A corporation has no cause of action for defamation in relation to the publication of defamatory matter about the corporation unless it was an excluded corporation at the time of the publication.
A corporation is an excluded corporation if:
(a) the objects for which it is formed do not include obtaining financial gain for its members or corporators; or
(b) it has fewer than 10 employees and is not an associated entity of another corporation;
and the corporation is not a public body.
(3) In counting employees for the purposes of subsection (2)(b), part-time employees are to be taken into account as an appropriate fraction of a full-time equivalent.
(5) Subsection (1) does not affect any cause of action for defamation that an individual associated with a corporation has in relation to the publication of defamatory matter about the individual even if the publication of the same matter also defames the corporation.
In this section:
corporation includes any body corporate or corporation constituted by or under a law of any country (including by exercise of a prerogative right), whether or not a public body.
employee, in relation to a corporation, includes any individual (whether or not an independent contractor) who is:
(a) engaged in the day-to-day operations of the corporation other than as a volunteer; and
subject to the control and direction of the corporation.
public body means a local government body or other governmental or public authority constituted by or under a law of any country.
This Act’s bill:Second reading speech
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