Lawyers representing the former head of Alberta Health Services (AHS) Athana Mentzelopoulos are denying claims of defamation by Premier Danielle Smith’s former chief of staff and call for his lawsuit to be dismissed in recently-filed court documents. Read More
The former head of AHS denies defaming Marshall Smith and, in new court documents, calls for his $12-million lawsuit to be dismissed.
The former head of AHS denies defaming Marshall Smith and, in new court documents, calls for his $12-million lawsuit to be dismissed.
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Lawyers representing the former head of Alberta Health Services (AHS) Athana Mentzelopoulos are denying claims of defamation by Premier Danielle Smith’s former chief of staff and call for his lawsuit to be dismissed in recently-filed court documents.
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Marshall Smith, who is unrelated to the premier, filed a $12-million lawsuit in May against Mentzelopoulos, the Globe and Mail newspaper along with one of its reporters, and another person whose identity is unknown to him but believed to be a former AHS board member.
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Smith alleges statements in Mentzelopoulos’s $1.7-million wrongful dismissal suit, along with further court filings and subsequent media reporting, defamed him and resulted in emotional distress, stress, depression, anxiety, embarrassment, loss of reputation, humiliation and an inability to secure work in his chosen profession.
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Mentzelopoulos’s lawyers filed a statement of defence in Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton last Wednesday that denies Smith’s claims in their entirety.
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“Mentzelopoulos denies each and every allegation set forth in the plaintiff Marshall Smith’s statement of claim,” it states.
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“He is not entitled to any damages or any relief whatsoever from Ms. Mentzelopoulos. Ms. Mentzelopoulos did not defame Mr. Smith and did not cause him loss or damages.”
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Her lawyers further argue that allegations contained in her court filings are protected by legal privilege and therefore are immune from legal attack.
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“Ms. Mentzelopoulos has an entitlement to state the facts that gave rise to her current circumstances.”
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The statement also denies Smith suffered any damages as a result of Mentzelopoulos, and even if that were the case, “the damages claimed are grossly excessive, exaggerated, and not warranted in the circumstances.”
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It goes on to refute 13 specific allegations Smith makes in his statement of claim, and seeks to have his lawsuit against her dismissed with costs.
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“Her statements in the pleadings in her action are statements of fact, they were true or substantially true in substance and fact, and, to the extent any of her statements are statements of opinion, they constituted fair comment,” her statement reads.
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She also claims to have no knowledge of the individual Smith purports to be a former AHS board member who he also believes to have defamed him.