An Ottawa judge ruled last week Chelsea Hillier must pay damages and legal fees following her 2022 Twitter defamation case despite declaring bankruptcy a few weeks after the initial ruling.
Hillier was ordered to pay $97,485 to Esther Post after falsely accusing her of drugging and sleeping with students in a series of tweets in 2021, while Post was employed as a sessional lecturer at Carleton University.
She was then later found in contempt of court and sentenced to conditional house arrest and probation. At that time, Hillier was once again ordered to cover Post’s legal fees of $16,115, bringing the total owed to Post $113,600.
The judge in the recent ruling said declaring bankruptcy should not and does not erase the penalties she’s been ordered to pay.
Story by Grant Deme