Harrison/Vancouver – Freddy Marks, a realtor and longtime resident of the Village of Harrison Hot Springs brought a claim in defamation against John Allen, another longtime resident and former mayor of the Village. The claim arises out of a series of Facebook posts and correspondence from 2018 to 2023.
The BC Supreme Court decision from the judge is here
From that document: Events Since the Commencement of This Proceeding
[40] The underlying claim was commenced on May 7, 2020, and Mr. Allen filed a notice of application on November 17, 2020 seeking the dismissal of this action under s. 4 of the PPPA. That application was argued over two days in June 2022, and in reasons issued November 21, 2022, Tammen J. dismissed the claims in respect of 11 publications by Mr. Allen, but allowed claims in respect of seven publications to proceed to trial (the claim in respect of one N&V (Harrison News and Views on Facebook) post from May 2018 was abandoned before trial).
[41] For present purposes, I note that Tammen J. confirmed on several occasions that Mr. Marks admitted pushing Mr. Allen following the November 4, 2019 council meeting (Marks v. Allen, 2022 BCSC 2024 at paras. 5, 82, 85), a fact that was not contested at the hearing.
[42] Nonetheless, on March 10, 2023, Mr. Allen published a lengthy post on the decision of Tammen J., which included this language:
In one allegation, Marks accused me of lying about him violently assaulting me in the council chamber (Nov 4, 2019) after I asked a couple of questions about one of his developments … The judge confirmed that Marks was lying, that the assault took place and so he threw out the Marks allegation of defamation against me….
(the “Liar Post”)
[43] On the last day of trial, during closing submissions, Mr. Allen offered, on a with prejudice basis, to apologize for the statement that Tammen J. found that Mr. Marks was a liar. That offer followed an earlier exchange between the Court and Mr. Allen’s counsel as to what the Court could make of a written submission that the “error” regarding Mr. Marks being found to be a liar was “acknowledged and regretted” when Mr. Allen did not apologize or express any remorse for the Liar Post in his testimony at trial.
[44] A few weeks after Mr. Allen was served with the notice of civil claim, on June 1, 2020, Mr. Allen reported Mr. Marks to the Real Estate Council of BC (now the BC Financial Services Authority) regarding the altercation at the November 14, 2019 council meeting. He followed up with another letter dated June 10, 2020, in which he incorrectly stated that Mr. Marks had been charged with assaulting him. In February 2023, he followed up again asking that his complaint be acted on, despite being aware that Mr. Marks was not charged in respect of the assault some time earlier.
[45] On November 21, 2020, Mr. Allen published the following post on N&V regarding his Anti-SLAPP Application:
… In order to respond to the SLAPP suit, I was forced to hire a lawyer. That has cost me about $16,000 so far. If the Marks/Facio defamation suit is allowed to proceed, I will be forced to spend about $100,000 to defend myself, as I was forced to do before. The taxpayers of Harrison could be on the hook for yet another massive legal bill.
[46] That post led the Village’s chief administrative officer, Ms. Madeline McDonald to send this email to the mayor and councillors:
A social media posting, on the Facebook page Harrison News and Views, was brought to my attention last night. It featured a dialogue initiated by Mr. John Allen that contains clearly untrue statements about the Village and Mayor Facio. While this may not be unusual, l was asked to clarify this matter to Council because an allegation was made that the Village is spending tax dollars on a lawsuit against Mr. Allen, with or through or connected to Mr. Freddy Marks. While there may be a private law suit between Mr. Marks and Mr. Allen, neither the Village (nor the Mayor, to the best of my knowledge) are parties. I can assure Council that the court action described by Mr. Allen does not involve the Village or any use of taxpayer’s funds and that the allegations made by Mr. Allen in this regard are completely untrue.
The legal action has been going through the court system since 2019. The trial ended in January 2026, and the judgment was published Friday May 22.
Marks won and was awarded $160,000 in damages.
NOTE: Allen does have the right to appeal.
On Monday May 25, Marks released a media statement:
“I appreciate the Supreme Court of British Columbia’s recent defamation ruling and am grateful this long, difficult chapter has finally ended.
Since 2019, this case has placed significant stress on me personally. It has also affected my wife, our family, and our work as Realtors serving the Harrison Hot Springs and Agassiz communities. These years, instead of focusing on our clients, community, and business, we had to devote our time, energy, and emotional strength to matters in court.
In his decision, the judge made the following findings: “I have found the presence of malice for all the defamatory publications, and that Mr. Allen acted out of spite and animus towards Mr. Marks. I also found that he was reckless in using analogies to Hitler’s regime and in stating facts that he knew were not true. A particularly important factor here is the impact of the Hitler comparisons on Mr. Marks in light of his personal family history and the loss of family members to the Nazi regime.” And later in his decision: “I have no hesitation in finding that Mr. Allen has engaged in what is properly described as harmful and socially destructive behaviour, ranging well beyond the impugned publications.”
A full copy of the court’s reasons for judgment can be found here: https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/26/09/2026BCSC0930.htm.
Over the past decade, my family and I have faced dehumanizing accusations. In our community, some people stopped speaking to us. These actions have caused us emotional harm and isolation in a place we call home, and we had no choice but to defend our reputation and integrity in court.
We now look forward to putting this behind us. We will continue to serve our clients and community with the same dedication, professionalism, and commitment that have defined our work for over 40 years.”
Freddy Marks & Family
