Former Calgary Jazz Festival executive director awarded $100K in defamation case

The former executive director of a defunct jazz festival in Calgary won his defamation suit. (FILE)

The former executive director of a defunct jazz festival in Calgary won his defamation suit.

Justice Colin C.J. Feasby awarded Patrick Maiani $100,000, according to publicly available court documents.

Feasby called the decision of festival board members to “pin its cancellation” on Maiani “cowardly.”

“Their statements were defamatory,” the judge wrote.

Documents released Wednesday recount Maiani being the Calgary Jazz Festival’s executive director from the early 2000s until 2010.

The documents recount Richard Sherry and John Bell blaming the festival’s demise on Maiani in comments made to local media.

They cited financial mismanagement, according to the documents.

There were, at one time, other defendants.

Those claims were either “settled or discontinued,” leaving only Sherry and Bell.

Feasby’s decision notes, “Neither Sherry nor Bell attended trial to defend themselves,” and their failure to “respond to a Notice to Admit Facts” meant they were “deemed to have admitted the facts stated.”

Feasby says the death of the festival—and the association—was “a collective failure.”

“Perhaps Mr. Maiani overreached or maybe, as other documents suggest, he did not have enough support in his role,” the judge wrote.

“Regardless, the buck stops with the board of directors, who were responsible for supervising the business of the Calgary Jazz Association and at all times maintained control of the organization’s finances.”

Feasby says Sherry and Bell made statements to local media “knowing or intending that they would be published.”

“The statements deflected blame from themselves and the other members of the board of directors and scapegoated Mr. Maiani,” the judge wrote.

“Their statements would tend to lower Mr. Maiani’s reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person.”

According to Wednesday’s documents, Maiani left Calgary in 2010, after being “active in the Calgary arts community in various capacities” since the 1990s.

“Mr. Maiani is awarded $50,000 in damages, with Mr. Sherry and Mr. Bell being severally liable for $40,000 and $10,000, respectively,” Feasby wrote.

“I award a further $50,000 in costs for which the defendants are jointly and severally liable.”

Feasby’s decision notes, “Because Mr. Maiani’s injury occurred in public, it is appropriate that his vindication occur in public.”