4 people suing Langley Township mayor for defamation
Published 9:15 am Thursday, August 27, 2026
Four members of the same family, including the head of a major Langley-based film studio, are suing Township of Langley Mayor Eric Woodward over remarks he made during a radio interview last month.
A B.C. Supreme Court statement of claim for defamation was filed by Gemma Martini, founder and CEO of Martini Film Studios, her brother Thomas Martini, president and CEO of Lorval Developments, and their parents, Maria and Renato Martini, owners of Coast Cranberries Ltd.
In the Aug. 20 court document, Woodward’s comments about an ongoing dispute between the Township and the Martinis over community amenity contributions are described as “false and defamatory.”
They were made during a July 16 appearance on the Mike Smyth show broadcast by radio station CKNW.
The 10-page court document accuses Woodward of “express malice” in making remarks that he knew were false or “were conveyed with reckless indifference as to whether the imputations convened were true or false.”
Woodward has refused a demand for an apology, the claim said: “The defendant threatens and intends to publish content the same as or similar to the Defamatory Expression [sic] unless he is restrained from doing so.”
The Martinis are seeking unspecified damages, a declaration that Woodward “has defamed each plaintiff by publishing false and defamatory content of and concerning each plaintiff,” and a “permanent injunction restraining the defendant from making, publishing, disseminating, or broadcast, directly or through third parties, the defamatory content described herein, and content of like or similar effect.”
The claims have not been proven in court.
A lawyer for the Martini family said there would be no comment beyond what was said in the legal filing.
Langley Advance Times has reached out to Woodward.