Former Leafs GM suing people for “damaging” accusations made online

TORONTO, Ont. – Former Leafs General Manager Brian Burke is suing 18 people, seeking damages for comments made online, which he says are untrue, damaged his reputation and hurt his family.

The defamation suit centres around comments that suggested Burke – who is married – was involved in an extra-marital affair with Sportsnet anchor Hazel Mae. Some of the online remarks suggested such an affair led to him being fired from the Leafs in January.

The people named in the suit are only known by their screen names at this point, but Burke’s lawyer, Peter Gall of the firm Heenan Blaikie, said he plans to find them.

“We’re going to do whatever we can to get to the bottom of this and to hold these people accountable,” Gall told 680News from his office in Vancouver.

“Brian feels very strongly about this – that people are hiding anonymously behind the Internet, thinking that they can – with impunity – say whatever they want. So he’s determined to find out who they are.”

Gall admits it’s a very unusual case.

“It’s not often that people have the wherewithal, the stamina, the resources, to go after the people who spread malicious, false statements on the Internet,” he said. “Brian does have the stamina, the resources and the wherewithal.”

The usernames listed in the claim are: ‘nofixedaddress’, ‘cambarkerfan’, ‘lavy16’, ‘mbskidmore’, ‘tulowd’, ‘loob’, ‘naggah’, ‘mowerman’, ‘aaronp18’, ‘steve’, ‘kaboomin8’, ‘thezbrad’, ‘slobberface’, ‘poonerman’, ‘isolatedcircuit’, ‘kanada kev’, ‘ncognito’ and ‘sir psycho sexy’.

It’s not clear how long it will be before it comes to trial, but Gall insists this case is winnable.

Damages will be determined at the time of the trial.

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