‘Pure nightmare’: Musician wins $1.5 million in Alberta defamation lawsuit

A Quebec-based digital music artist hopes to get his profession and life again on monitor after triumphing in an Alberta defamation lawsuit tied to social media posts accusing him of being a sexual predator.

“It was terrible. The whole thing was like pure nightmare and hell,” Frederik Durand mentioned in an interview from Montreal.

“I felt hopeless. It was the worst feeling ever.”

The 35-year-old performer, who performs underneath the title Snails, mentioned the Instagram reposts from California resident Michaela Higgins broadsided his profession and dropped his earnings off a cliff. Durand and Higgins each say they’ve by no means met.

Durand mentioned he had been performing between 125 and 150 nights a 12 months at dance golf equipment throughout North America with a musical fashion described as “vomitstep” — a mixture of guttural bass gurgles, booming, low-frequency bass and synthesizers.

That all modified in early 2020, he mentioned, when an Instagram account, “@evidenceagainstsnails,” started reposting allegations of significant sexual impropriety in opposition to him.

“All the material was aimed at branding Mr. Durand a criminal and sexual predator who engaged in sexual misconduct ranging from non-consensual intercourse to unwanted advances, including towards minors,” Edmonton Court of King’s Bench Justice Nicholas Devlin wrote in a Feb. 26 judgment.

Devlin famous when one alleged sufferer publicly backed Durand to say the accusation was false, she herself was attacked on-line.

“An obvious collateral purpose of the Instagram account was to ‘cancel’ Mr. Durand, frequently tagging (the posts to alert) his agent, producers and venues where he was to perform,” added Devlin.

Durand’s reveals in Alberta certainly ended, which led to the case being dealt with in Edmonton.

Durand mentioned he carried out about 15 reveals in 2023 and his revenue dropped from near $3 million in 2018 to a lack of $138,000 in 2022.

He was initially at a loss on find out how to combat again.

“When it started it was just pure confusion,” he mentioned. “You read stuff about yourself and you’re like, ‘That literally never happened. That’s not the right side of the story.’”

Devlin famous Durand stored voluminous digital knowledge information to show his case whereas Higgins, whereas protesting having the matter heard in Alberta, in any other case didn’t supply a defence.

According to the judgment, Higgins mentioned she posted to boost consciousness and to “protect vulnerable women and girls” within the DJ trade. But the decide mentioned reposting defamation remains to be defamation.

“All the material posted on the Instagram account was second or third-hand, consisting of reposts, which themselves sometimes linked material from elsewhere on social media,” wrote Devlin.

“I have no difficulty finding as a fact that the purpose, intention, and effect of the Instagram Account was to brand Mr. Durand a creep and a criminal. This easily makes out prima facie defamation.”

Devlin awarded Durand $1.5 million and mentioned his ruling shouldn’t be seen to be any reflection on the Me Too motion, which gained pace in 2017 as a torrent of sexual impropriety allegations had been levelled in opposition to highly effective males in leisure, media, business and different arenas.

“The Me Too movement has served a salutary and long overdue purpose in bringing the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment to the forefront of public attention,” Devlin mentioned.

Durand’s Edmonton-based lawyer, Ellery Lew, mentioned justice was served.

“This to me was the right result in this case, one hundred per cent. Based on what I was able to see … objectively from the record (Durand) provided me. It was persuasive that he was essentially victimized,” mentioned Lew in an interview.

He mentioned there are most likely solely a handful of web defamation instances in Canada, however mentioned it’s possible the tip of the iceberg.

“This is no different than literally the witch trials of old or what we used to hear about in authoritarian regimes where you falsely accuse your neighbour of something just because you have a personal vendetta.”

The courtroom additionally imposed a everlasting injunction in opposition to Higgins stopping her from publishing any assertion suggesting that Durand has dedicated sexual assault, bodily assault or has behaved in a sexually inappropriate method.

On the day of the judgment, Higgins reiterated on Instagram it was all about holding ladies secure, including she couldn’t afford to rent a lawyer to combat the case.

“Now I have a … judgment against me in Canada which luckily does not affect me because it’s in a different country,” she added. She concluded the submit by flashing her center finger.

And whereas laptop knowledge turned Durand’s life the other way up, he additionally realizes it helped him put it proper aspect up.

“I never throw away a computer my entire life, never a phone, nothing. I have messages from the first time I ever texted,” he mentioned.

“That was the thing that saved my life.”