Town-initiated lawsuit finally settled

The defamation lawsuit against an Acton citizen initiated by the Town of Halton Hills on behalf of one of its employees has been settled. Town lawyer John Schaljo said Wednesday the minutes of the settlement had been signed, but the terms had not yet been fulfilled. He said the settlement was reached last week. The lawsuit against Acton citizen Al Kirouac, who operates a website that purports to be a news organization, stemmed from an "article" that appeared on the site in May 2005 referring to Director of Recreation and Parks Terry Alyman as a "corrupt" civil servant. Schaljo would not discuss the terms of the settlement, saying they were confidential, except for an apology to Alyman that appeared on the website. "The defamatory article was removed from our website once it was brought to our attention," said Kirouac, the administrative contact for the site, in his apology. "We hereby fully retract the defamatory statements that were contained in the article, and sincerely apologize to Mr. Alyman for any damage, injury or embarrassment that this article may have caused to Mr. Alyman or his family." Ryder Gilliland, the lawyer representing Kirouac, would not comment on the settlement. Schaljo said he didn't know what his firm's bill would be for the work done on the settlement, but estimated it would be in the $1,000 to $2,000 range, significantly less, he said, than the $20,000 his firm had billed the town for work done on the lawsuit up until the time that information was recently presented at Town council. "If there are costs to be paid, the Town will cover Terry's costs," said Town CAO Denis Perlin.