University of Windsor law professor defamed former colleague, court in Trinidad rules

A University of Windsor law professor launched a "sustained attack" against her former colleague and offered no proof in court of her accusations that he sexually harassed and threatened and intimidated students, a court in Trinidad and Tobago has ruled.

The High Court of Justice ruled that law professor Julie Macfarlane defamed and libelled Emir Crowne, her former colleague in the faculty of law at the University of Windsor. Crowne was awarded the equivalent of more than $100,000 Cdn in damages.

"Persistent allegations were made by the defendant against the claimant, and absolutely no evidence has been advanced to support them," wrote Judge Ronnie Boodoosingh in a decision dated May 18.

"The only conclusion the court can reasonably draw here is that she did not care too much to substantiate or provide any support to her contentions."

One witness, a medical doctor, was called by Crowne's legal team and was not cross-examined by the defence. The judge accepted the doctor's evidence that Macfarlane's allegations negatively impacted Crowne's health and described them as a "sustained attack."

Missed deadline to present evidence

According to the ruling, Macfarlane's legal team did not present evidence to back up her claims, which included allegations that Crowne had been dismissed from the University of Windsor on account of serious misconduct related to his behaviour with female students.

In his decision, Boodoosingh noted that the main thrust of Macfarlane's defence was that her statements about Crowne were true and that she relied on the truth "as a complete defence to the claim," but ultimately, he found that "no evidence of the truth was given."

Macfarlane, who declined to comment on the ruling, was represented in the defamation case by legal counsel for the Canadian Universities Reciprocal Insurance Exchange (CURIE), which has appealed the decision.

Macfarlane had to sue CURIE in order to obtain legal representation from the insurer. CURIE had argued it did not have a duty to defend Macfarlane because the University of Windsor was not a party to the Crowne defamation case.

The Ontario Supreme Court ruled in August 2019 that Macfarlane was an "additional insured" party under the university's policy with CURIE and that CURIE had a legal obligation to defend her.

Satcha Kissoon, a lawyer representing CURIE in the case, said in an email that the defamation case began in February 2019 but that his firm was only retained in September.

Prior to its involvement, the court in Trinidad had issued several orders for both parties to file witness statements, he said.

Macfarlane, Kissoon said, had missed the July 1 deadline as she was unrepresented by counsel at the time and still pursuing her case against CURIE.

When Kissoon's firm took on the case, it applied to the court to allow her to file those witness statements.

"Ultimately, the court declined Professor Macfarlane permission to file her evidence," Kissoon said. 

Kissoon confirmed an appeal has been filed and is "in progress."

University investigated conduct

Crowne, who is currently an attorney with the firm New City Chambers in Port-of-Spain and practises law in Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, had been a tenured associate professor teaching in the law faculty at the University of Windsor, where he had received several teaching excellence awards.

But in 2014, he was relieved of his teaching duties while the university conducted an investigation into his conduct.

Today, Emir Crowne works as an international sports attorney. Last year, he represented Jamaican sprinter Briana Williams. (Photo by Ricardo Makyn//The Gleaner)

That investigation was prompted, in part, by Macfarlane, who said she began hearing complaints from students a year earlier about Crowne's allegedly inappropriate behaviour toward students.

Macfarlane and five other professors in the law faculty contacted the dean of the law school at the time and the university president, who launched a formal investigation.

In an email to CBC News, Crowne's lawyer, Matthew Gayle, said that while at the University of Windsor, Crowne's informal social interactions with students were "wholly appropriate and commensurate with his position as a professor."

"[They] would have been in an appropriate forum and manner, in line with the proper professor-student relationship," Gayle said.

Crowne left the university in December 2015. Macfarlane has said she learned from another colleague that the professor's employment at the University of Windsor had been terminated under a clause of the faculty's collective agreement governing dismissal for just cause and that he had grieved the dismissal.

Macfarlane said she also learned that the university, to avoid arbitration, later settled with the professor. 

'Confidential settlement'

In a recent blog post, Crowne acknowledged that a "confidential settlement" was reached with the university but said his departure was a "voluntary resignation."

Following his departure from the University of Windsor, Crowne, in 2017, was hired by a Mississauga law firm, and also as a senior lecturer in the faculty of law at the University of West Indies.

The court in Trinidad heard that Macfarlane twice contacted partners at the Mississauga law firm and told them that Crowne was a "sexual predator," was a "risk to young, female trainees at the firm," had been terminated from the University of Windsor for "serious misconduct" and that his qualifications were "bogus."

Similar allegations by Macfarlane were presented via email to the dean of the faculty of law at the University of West Indies, the court heard.

As well, in 2018, CBC News reported on some of Macfarlane's allegations regarding Crowne.

"The allegations had the potential to derail the claimant's career," the ruling said. "Understandably, he felt he had to keep changing positions."