B.C. taxpayers are on the hook for more than $50,000 in legal fees after a Victoria New Democrat MLA abruptly abandoned a year-long fight against defamation allegations Friday and instead apologized for untrue comments.
Rob Fleming, the NDP MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake, sent an apology to the B.C. NDP membership email list Friday for comments he made about a provincial deputy minister, Athana Mentzelopoulos, in July 2014.
Fleming had spent the last year defending the comments, after Mentzelopoulos sued him for defamation in August 2014. The year of legal wrangling between both sides — which was largely spent trying to set a court date for trial — cost the public thousands of dollars because half of Mentzelopoulos’ legal fees were covered by the government under an indemnification policy for civil servants. The B.C. government spent more than $50,000 to cover Mentzelopoulos’ costs, and she spent a similar amount of her money, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
As part of the settlement, Fleming apologized publicly and Mentzelopoulos, the deputy minister in the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, dropped her defamation lawsuit.
“In July 2014, in electronic messages and other communications sent in my name, I made comments about Athana Mentzelopoulos, including comments that wrongly suggested a connection between Ms. Mentzelopoulos and her salary and relationships,” Fleming wrote in an email to NDP members.
“I am sorry to have made these claims, and that claims of a similar nature have subsequently been made. I acknowledge they were untrue and that they may have affected the health, reputation and personal relationships of Ms. Mentzelopoulos. I apologize unreservedly.”
Fleming had argued in earlier court documents that he was doing his job as an opposition critic when he accused Mentzelopoulos of receiving a pay raise, which he characterized as “Christy Clark’s insider payoff.” He had also highlighted Mentzelopoulos’ past role as a bridesmaid in Clark’s wedding and contrasted her salary with the dispute in education funding in last year’s provincial teacher’s strike. Mentzelopoulos’ defamation lawsuit called the comments false and malicious.
Fleming referred comment Friday to NDP Leader John Horgan, who said the decision to settle the court case was out of respect for taxpayer money.
“We felt that we didn’t see the value in any more money being expended on legal proceedings that were brought against Rob by an aggrieved public servant because her feelings were hurt,” said Horgan.
The NDP paid for Fleming’s legal fees, but Horgan said he was not aware of the exact amount.
This story has been updated to clarify details about the legal fees.
