CANADA
CBC News

By Jason Proctor, CBC News

Nearly three years after reporter Laura Robinson published allegations that former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong had abused students at a Burns Lake, B.C., Catholic school in the late ’60s, the two are set to face off in court this week.

It’s one of the most hotly anticipated civil trials in British Columbia.

But it’s Robinson suing Furlong for defamation — not the other way around.

“It is relatively rare for a journalist to sue someone for an attack on their reputation,” says David Crerar, a defamation expert with Borden, Ladner, Gervais who is not involved with the case.

“So that in itself is interesting: the fact a journalist is a claimant rather than a defendant in a lawsuit.”