But if Ghomeshi knows, as he must, that his civil case will be quickly dismissed, there appear to be two good reasons to file the suit anyway: One, it gets his story onto the public record, without any possible recourse. Statements of claim are privileged; through this claim, Ghomeshi, like any litigant, can get anything he wishes onto the public record with absolute legal impunity. The arbitration process where his case must ultimately end up due to his unionized status, is entirely private.
Unlike with his more moderate Facebook posting, Ghomeshi cannot be sued for whatever he decides to state in his claim, however libellous it is. Issuing a statement of claim however frivolous is therefore often a PR masterstroke. It gets his message onto the public record, and reported, without any fear of legal repercussion. Indeed, the claim (which is currently getting thousands of readers online) pretty viciously disparages the CBCs management.
The same impunity, by the way, applies to the CBC, which is why it should get its own, equally privileged, version onto the public record in the form of a statement of defence before Ghomeshi drops his case, which he assuredly eventually will.
But in this contest of wills and narratives, there is an even more compelling reason for him to sue civilly. If the anonymous accusers are weighing whether to go public, a $55-million action must give them pause.
Who is going to risk being potentially sued for defamation by a party who has already assembled a team of lawyers and PR agents and showed a readiness to take on even the comparatively powerful CBC for $55-million? Given that they have already been painted by Ghomeshis version of events as being into BDSM kink something they may not even be, or may not want known to friends and family how quickly will any accusers come forward publicly now and risk being joined to this outsized action?
