City Councillor Sean Orr has filed a defamation lawsuit against Mayor Ken Sim.Orr, a member of the left-leaning COPE party, claims Sim "deliberately, maliciously, and in bad faith" smeared his reputation during a February 6 briefing with Chinese-language media.The civil claim, filed Tuesday, alleges that Sim made false and damaging statements about Orr during a February 6 briefing with Chinese-language media. According to the lawsuit, Sim stated in English — later translated by fellow ABC Vancouver councillor Lenny Zhou — that Orr was "handing out illegal drugs on Christmas Day to people on the streets.”Orr emphatically denies the allegation, stating he wasn't even in Vancouver on Christmas Day and has never distributed illegal drugs. Sim has since retracted the statement and issued an apology.At a press conference last month, Sim apologized for the error..Orr told reporters last week, and again on Tuesday outside the Vancouver BC Supreme Court, that a simple apology is not enough..In his civil lawsuit, Orr claimed that Sim had "acted deliberately, maliciously, and in bad faith" when issuing the statement, which damaged Orr's reputation. The mayor's office, meanwhile, has also offered a response noting that Sim is "aware of the litigation" and that because it is now a matter before the courts, "the mayor will not be commenting further."
