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Caryk maintains her innocence, “but, until she can prove it, she’s branded,” Block said.

However, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Mullins reminded Block that “this ball got rolling” long before any information was either sworn to in the peace bond application or reported by this newspaper. On the same day that the Karlssons’ first child was stillborn, Caryk was already being suggestively implicated in improper behaviour. In the days that followed, Caryk was outright accused of cyberbullying by other hockey wives, according to texts and emails filed with the court.

Karlsson’s lawyer, Gil Zvulony, entered no evidence to oppose the application on the record, but said it would be “outrageous” for the court to compel a victim of cyberbullying to turn over evidence about what had happened to her to the woman she believed to be her tormentor.

Anything filed with the court as part of an application for a peace bond is absolutely privileged, meaning it cannot form the basis of any legal proceeding.

It is Caryk’s stated intent to prove to others that she hasn’t done this, Zvulony said. She wants to discredit, challenge, spin or publicize what could result if the order is granted. The remedy for Caryk is to “combat the bad speech with good speech,” Zvulony argued. And, he said, an interview with this newspaper and ongoing reporting on the legal saga that fairly characterizes her denials have done that.

For Caryk, whose legal team said it had no intention of suing Melinda Karlsson for damages, it’s a simple request. On what basis and with what evidence did Melinda Karlsson form the belief that Caryk was harassing her online? Caryk is asking the court to force Karlsson to turn that information over to her in an application for what’s called a “Norwich” order.