A B.C. Supreme Court civil jury has found former premier Bill Vander Zalm guilty of libelling the province's ex-conflict of interest commissioner Ted Hughes.
After deliberating overnight, the five-man, two-women panel returned Thursday afternoon to say the 77-year-old Vander Zalm defamed his old nemesis in a self-penned, vanity autobiography published in 2008.
Hughes, now 84, was responsible in 1991 of delivering a damning report on Vander Zalm's conduct that forced the erstwhile Social Credit Party leader to resign in disgrace.
In his book, "William Vander Zalm: For The People," Vander Zalm wrongly suggested that Hughes was biased in that 20 year old feud, the jury said, and he should pay $60,000 in damages.
Vander Zalm was not in court for the ruling.
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