Brad Whitcombe and Scott Wilson have dropped a peace bond application against Guelph blogger Bill Manderson.
Lawyers for the county councillor and chief administrative officer were set to proceed on Tuesday with the case against Manderson, but last week decided instead to withdraw the application due to Manderson’s health problems.
“He’s got some pretty serious things to deal with and we didn’t want him to have to deal with this, too,”?said lawyer Chris Wayland, whose firm McCarthy Tétrault is representing Whitcombe and Wilson.
Manderson, whom the county officials accuse of making threatening statements in over 150 letters and on his website, smelly-welly.com, has publicly stated he recently had his stomach removed after a cancerous tumour suddenly perforated. The former engineer spent two weeks in the intensive care unit at Guelph General Hospital.
Wayland said the decision to withdraw the peace bond application was made last week during a discussion with his clients, after David Doney, Manderson’s lawyer, filed an application for adjournment.
Manderson said last week the dropping of the peace bond case “doesn’t matter” to him.
“From day one, the peace bond was a strategic move on their part to keep me off balance … All it was, was a red herring,” Manderson said.
He explained the peace bond proceedings, in his opinion, were a ploy to distract him from the libel lawsuit filed against him by Whitcombe and Wilson.
Originally the pair was seeking $2.4-million in damages, but earlier this year McCarthy Tétrault filed an amended statement of claim seeking $1 each in general, aggravated, and punitive damages.
They are also seeking a permanent injunction that would prohibit Manderson from printing what Wayland has in the past called “false and malicious personal attacks.”
Last year, a judge rejected a motion from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to dismiss the case.
Manderson said he looks forward to defending against the libel case.
“I’m going to court,” he said
“Absolutely.”
