Reporter seeks to have John Furlong's lawsuit dismissed

A reporter who is being sued for defamation by the former head of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics says her lawyers will try to have the case dismissed for want of prosecution.

John Furlong launched the action against Laura Robinson after an article appeared in the weekly Vancouver newspaper, the Georgia Straight.

The article alleged Furlong verbally and physically abused students while he was a teacher in northern B.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Robinson says Furlong is stalling the legal action, has not requested a trial date or sought to interview her for oral discovery.

Furlong pursuing lawsuit

But Furlong's lawyer, John Hunter, says an exchange of documents between parties occurs before oral discoveries, and his client has provided his list of documents to Robinson's counsel.

Hunter says he is waiting for a list of documents from Robinson, and once he has her list and has reviewed her documents, the parties will be able to schedule oral examinations.

Earlier this week, Furlong issued a statement saying that RCMP had told him that they had found no evidence he sexually abused Burns Lake resident Dorothy Abraham while he was a teacher in the northern B.C. community in the late 1960s.

The RCMP confirmed no charges resulted from the investigation into Abraham's claims, but the file remains open.

Furlong also said he is dropping a lawsuit against the weekly paper that first published the allegations last fall, but that he is still suing the author of the article, Laura Robinson, for defamation.