Astley v Verdun  Astley v Verdun, 2011 ONSC 3651, is a leading defamation decision released by Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The case was publicized for the amount of damages awarded to the plaintiff, and the permanent injunction ordered against the defendant. Robert Astley was the CEO and President of Clarica Life Assurance (formerly "Mutual Life of Canada") from 1993 to 2002. In 2002, Astley became the President of Sun Life Financial and oversaw the merger of Clarica and Sun Life. In 2004, Astley retired and became a director of the Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). In 2008, Astley was appointed as Chairperson of the CPPIB. J Robert Verdun was former newspaper publisher who was known for his controversial editorials. He frequently appeared at general shareholder meetings for public corporations to demand higher accountability to shareholders. In December 2004, Verdun wrote an email to the Bank of Montreal chairperson to complain about Astley's appointment to the board. Verdun described Astley as "unethical, greedy, and narrowly-focused". At a later Bank of Montreal shareholder meeting, Verdun publicly called Astley a "stain on this board" and that Astley had no integrity or ethics. In November 2005, Verdun filed a shareholders proposal with several banks that further defamed Astley. Astley's lawyers wrote to Verdun to warn him to stop defaming Astley. Instead, Verdun wrote to the Ontario Securities Commission to complain that Astley lacked the integrity to serve as director, and released the letter to the media. Over the years, Verdun publicly called Astley "unethical", "corrupt", "dishonest", "a petty operator", "lacking in integrity", and "motivated by greed". Verdun later wrote a book, The Fox in Charge of the Biggest Henhouse in Canada, which further defamed Astley. As a result, the book is not available in Canada. The trial judge would later describe Verdun's actions as being motivated by malice. In May 2006, Astley filed a statement of claim against Verdun, suing him for defamation. According to "The Globe and Mail" such defamation lawsuits are rare ""because companies and their top brass don't want to look as if they're muzzling small shareholders."" shareholders   Following Astley's filing of the statement of claim, various major newspapers reported on the case. Verdun claimed that Astley had provided the newspapers with a copy of the statement of claim in order to defame Verdun, and filed a counterclaim, suing Astley for defamation.