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Re:  JC Rathwell Civic Election Defamation

JC Rathwell has his day in court

BC Supreme Court Justice Kelleher ruled Tuesday, November 14, 2007, that actions taken by 2 defendants in November 2005 days before the Kelowna Civic elections were defamatory to local businessman JC Rathwell, who was running for a council position in that election.  Justice Kelleher awarded Mr. Rathwell $15,000 in damages against Tara Blackburn, formerly of Kelowna, for libelous messages she posted on a Castanet internet forum in the days leading up to the election.  Justice Kelleher awarded $20,000 against Deana Van Fleet, of Kelowna, for contributing or allowing a libelous website written about Mr. Rathwell to be published on the internet via her internet web hosting company "Creator's Design". Van Fleet's defamation went further when she sent out invitations to Kelowna businesses to view the site 15 days before the election.  The notices were sent from a hotmail account originating from her home. During the course of the litigation, Van Fleet destroyed evidence by shredding documentation, and Justice Kelleher ruled that she pay the Plaintiff another $5,000 in punitive damages as a result, as well as costs of the court proceedings.

The court noted that Van Fleet is the daughter of Gary and Nancy Koopman, the latter being involved with Mr. Rathwell in other BC Supreme Court proceedings. Also noted was the fact that Blackburn is connected with Kirk Stott, an individual also involved in those same proceedings. This second dispute with the Koopmans and Stott, involved the much publicized seizure of "the Boardroom" houseboat carried out 2 days prior to the same election, and later Koopman and Stott were found to be wrongful by the Federal Court and ordered to pay costs to Mr. Rathwell.



JC's personal comments:
I'm so glad to have closure to this whole fiasco. It was so embarrassing and degrading for what Tara Blackburn & Deanna Van Fleet did to myself. It was a long time coming and it's great to finally find out who was behind all this. I said right from the start "I smell a conspiracy", but with only days before the civic election I had no time to prove it or to
clear my name. In regards to my election chances in 2005, it is too late for me, but maybe the latest court decision will stop them from trying to ruin somebody's creditability.