While Amorosi filed suit in November 2016, his lawsuit states his lawyer had sent a letter to Barker two months prior, demanding that defamatory words about the then deputy CAO be taken down from Guelph Speaks.

The lawsuit states Barker refused to comply, and “has continued his personal and malicious attacks on Amorosi and published at least seven additional blog posts between Sept. 27 and Nov. 6, 2016, which are highly critical of Amorosi.”

According to Petersen’s ruling, Barker had argued that it was “clear from the words used in his posts that he was expressing concern about municipal government affairs generally and not about Mr. Amorosi’s individual conduct or competence.”

Petersen notes that Amorosi was cited several times by name.

However, the justice did rule that comments were based on Amorosi’s role with the city, rather than personal attacks, writing “the statements about Mr. Amorosi form part of a broader report on the City of Guelph’s municipal government affairs, specifically on the state of the city’s finances, the expenditure of public funds, the transparency of decision-making, and the job performance of those in charge of the city’s management and budget.”

In his lawsuit, Amorosi also argued Barker’s posts had made it harder for him to find a job, noting “that despite having applied for four separate similar positions, he has not received a single job interview since leaving his job at the City of Guelph in early 2017.”

Amorosi was fired by the city in February 2017 after being held responsible for the unintentional disclosure of personal information turned over to lawyers in the since- settled wrongful dismissal lawsuit from Bruce Poole, the city’s former chief building official.

Barker argued it was this issue, not his posts, that have made it harder for Amorosi to find employment.