Erskine-Smith v Maggi, Round 3

Plus: "No assholes allowed"

ABOVE THE FOLD

MR. X is back on the lobbying circuit after getting a two-year ban at the provincial level, KRISTA FORD HAYNES dished about her Premier Dad and more on a pod, wannabe provincial Liberal leader NATE ERSKINE-SMITH got candid in a pre-campaign organizing call — but first: pollster QUITO MAGGI has filed his appeal to Erskine-Smith’s defamation win at Small Claims court.

First in Observer — IT AIN’T OVER YET — The Grit grudge match between Erskine-Smith and Maggi is officially heading to the next round.

Less than a month after a Small Claims Court judge ordered Mainstreet Research’s pollster-in-chief to pay the federal MP for Beaches-East York $25,000 in defamation damages, he’s filed that appeal he had been hinting at in Superior Court — and it reads like a full-blown free-speech counterpunch.

Per the filing, Maggi is asking the court to toss the ruling entirely and have NES cover his legal expenses — or, failing that, to order a new trial and slash the damages.

The crux of h…