Libel lawsuit: out-of-court settlement for ex-McGill student leader
Former vice-president of the Student Union of McGill University, Declan McCool, reached an amicable settlement with the people and organizations he was suing for defamation in a history of sexual assault complaint.
In November 2020, McCool filed a $1.5 million lawsuit, later reduced to $1 million, for defamation. This targeted the student behind the anonymous report for sexual assault, McGill University, two student associations and three of their members, as well as the newspaper McGill Daily and three of its journalists who relayed the denunciation. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
The former student leader had successfully appealed the judgment related to the sexual assault complaint.
< p>The Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) admits that it acted on information known at the time and that it unintentionally harmed Mr. McCool, including by preventing him from assuming his role as vice-president as stipulated in his contract signed in February 2020.
Same story from the newspaper McGill Daily, which admits to having treated the news based on information he had at the time. According to their public statement, the treatment of the subject would have been different today. The newspaper ends its mea culpa by stating that this story will not repeat itself in the future.
