Judge cites podcasters for contempt over campaign against AHS CEO
Alberta Court of King's Bench found reasonable grounds that David Wallace and James Di Fiore engaged in criminal contempt through months-long 'baseless humiliation' targeting Athana Mentzelopoulos.
An Alberta judge has found reasonable and probable grounds to cite two podcasters for criminal contempt, describing their months-long campaign against former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos as "baseless humiliation and demonization" aimed at pressuring her to abandon her lawsuit against the provincial government.
Court of King's Bench Justice Michael Lema issued his ruling Friday following a hearing the previous Monday. The citations mean the court has found sufficient grounds to have the podcasters answer the contempt allegations, though a future hearing will determine if contempt has been proven.
Lema ruled the content in a series of videos made by podcasters David Wallace and James Di Fiore amounted to reasonable and probable grounds that they had engaged in criminal contempt of court. He wrote the commentary was not legitimate journalism, but appeared aimed at making Mentzelopoulos's life "miserable and ultimately to sap her will to continue with her case."
"On the evidence to date, it is baseless humiliation and demonization of a litigant in this court for no apparent purpose other than sapping her will to continue with her case," Lema wrote, describing Wallace and Di Fiore as "shameless" and "master insulters, insinuators, and muckrakers."
The podcasters' videos, posted to X and YouTube starting last summer, mentioned Mentzelopoulos more than 300 times, calling her a "fabricator," "liar," and "criminal," while describing her lawsuit as a "shakedown attempt." Some statements indicated Wallace had pursued her personally, including comments about talking to her neighbours and visiting property she owned in another province. In one video, Wallace offered a $100,000 bounty for information leading to criminal charges against Mentzelopoulos.
Lema approved a restraining order against the two and ordered that the content be taken down. This is the second time Wallace and Di Fiore have been cited for contempt due to comments in their videos — they were previously cited in a parallel case where they're accused of similarly intimidating ex-AHS board member Sandy Edmonstone, who is likely to be compelled to testify in Mentzelopoulos's $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit.
The ruling underscores the court's limits on what constitutes protected speech when targeting a litigant in an active case.