Court Allows Defamation Suit by Former Professor Steven Galloway to Proceed

The Court of Appeal of British Columbia, the highest court in the province, has ruled that the defamation lawsuit filed by Steven Galloway, a writer and former professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), can proceed. Galloway had sued 20 individuals for defamation, including a student who initially accused him of sexual misconduct in 2015.

In a lengthy decision, the Court of Appeal of British Columbia reinstated certain elements of the writer’s complaint as described in the province’s Supreme Court decision in late 2021.

“What I am asking for is the chance to prove that the allegations made against me are false,” Steven Galloway stated in a press release. “This has affected my life and that of my family.”

On Thursday, the plaintiff’s attorney, David Wotherspoon, announced that his client intends to appeal this recent decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, the country’s highest court.

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“This is a distressing and concerning judgment that could potentially impede the free speech of individuals who have experienced sexual violence, particularly in the student community,” said David Wotherspoon.

Between 2011 and 2013, Steven Galloway and A.B. (a pseudonym used in court documents), both of whom were married, allegedly had a relationship that one deemed consensual while the other did not.

The former director of the creative writing program was suspended in 2015 and subsequently terminated in 2016. The case sparked significant debate within the university community and the Canadian literary community at large.

Two years after his dismissal, in 2018, the author was reinstated by UBC after an arbitration process.

None of the allegations have been proven in court at this time.

With information from Jason Proctor