Filed in response to allegedly "false and misleading" Twitter posts, Guelph Medical Imaging (GMI) has launched a $6 million lawsuit against a local couple. Though, in a statement of defence, the couple argue it was GMI's own tweets which caused it financial and reputational harm.
The lawsuit, filed in Toronto on behalf of Probhash Mondal and 2345171 Ontario Inc. seeks to have the court award general damages in the amount of $5 million and $1 million in punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages against Stephanie Marie and Kathryn Evans-Bitten.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
In its statement of claim, GMI accuses the couple of posting defamatory and libellous statements to disparage it within the community and impugn its integrity and credibility.
The statement of claim says on Oct. 11, 2020, Evans-Bitten posted, “I’m sad that I have to travel outside my hometown of Guelph Ontario to receive medical imaging care because the CEO of our monopolized imaging healthcare here calls people 'trannies ' and hates gay pride." In 2021, she also posted, “the CEO of GMI also runs 'UBIMICO' and likes to post homophobic content like this."
In court documents, the defendants insist Mondal was using his professional Twitter accounts, both for Guelph Medical Imaging and United Brotherhood of Medical Imaging Clinics (UBMICO), to post "highly charged, inflammatory and discriminatory political messages," including discomfort with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Pride parade and the rainbow flag.
The statement of defence points to a June 11 Tweet from Evans-Bitten's @ScurvyCompanion account with the following message: “This #PrideMonth2021, I want to remind #Guelph leaders that gay residents in the city are being forced to seek healthcare diagnostics in other cities, because Guelph Medical Imaging is owned and lead by a man who thinks and tweets this stuff:”
Attached to that tweet were copies of three of Mondal’s own tweets, the defence claim states. In the first, Mondal criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for waving a rainbow flag during a Pride parade. In that tweet, Mondal wrote, “Please do not defile our flag.”
A second tweet listed in the court documents is a Tweet from Mondel showing he was responding to news that Toronto Mayor John Tory had attended a drag show in the Church-Wellesley Village. Mr. Mondal criticized Tory by saying, “Where’s the tranny, @JohnTory’s got some benjamins for your thong!!!”
The third copied tweet is a photo of Mondal standing with two Conservative Party of Ontario politicians – Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education Stephen Lecce. In the tweet Mondal was critical of the province’s 2015 sexual health education curriculum, which included LGBTQ topics, and which the Ford government had repealed.
