Lawyers Weekly says that a split decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal means an Internet libel case involving Mitchell Goldhar, the founder of SmartCentres, will be tried in Canada, even though the allegedly defamatory article was published by an Israeli newspaper and concerned an Israeli soccer team owned by Mr. Goldhar. The decision in Goldhar v. Haaretz.com 2016 ONCA 515, upholds a March 2015 motion by Ontario Superior Court Justice Mario D. Faieta that opened the way for the case to be tried in Ontario. An article published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in November 2011 criticized the management practices of Mr. Goldhar, who bought one of Israel’s most popular soccer clubs, Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C., in 2010.
TEAM CULTURE VS SMARTCENTRES
Lawyer’s Weekly says that SmartCentres was instrumental in bringing Wal-Mart stores to Canada. The company was sold for $1.16 billion earlier this year to Calloway REIT, a real estate investment trust now known as SmartREIT. Canadian Business magazine estimated Goldhar’s net worth for 2016 at $2.37 billion. The article is said to have criticized the management style at the Maccabi Tel Aviv club and compared to culture at SmartCentres. The court found that many of the 200 people in Goldhar’s Toronto office heard about the article and that 200 to 300 people in Canada read it online. The newspaper’s print circulation in Israel is 70,000.
