CANADA
Huffington Post
By James Keller, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER – A freelance journalist who wrote an article alleging former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong verbally and physically abused British Columbia students in the 1960s and ’70s asked a judge Monday to force Furlong to put up $100,000 to prove he can pay legal costs if he loses.
The procedural application, which relied on a rarely used section of law that has only been used twice in more than a century, largely focused instead on what Robinson’s lawyer described as the “bitter” feud between the pair.
Laura Robinson wrote an article for the Georgia Straight newspaper published in September 2012, quoting several people who claimed to have been taught by Furlong in Burns Lake, B.C., and Prince George, B.C., in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The former students were quoted alleging Furlong verbally and physically abused them.
Furlong immediately denied any wrongdoing and subsequently sued Robinson and the newspaper for libel. He recently dropped the Georgia Straight as a defendant and has promised to “escalate” his legal action against the reporter.
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