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Damages for defamation of solicitor reduced on appeal where defendant TV station gave an apology within days
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Court of Appeal allows appeal of High Court assessment of damages in defamation case arising on foot of an evening television news bulletin broadcast by the defendant mistakenly showed footage of the plaintiff while the accompanying speech made reference to his client, who was a defendant in a fraud case, and reduces the High Court award of €140,000 to €36,000, on the grounds that: 1) while this was a serious defamation of the plaintiff, it was not at the level which would merit a starting point of €200,000 - rather, €60,000 was the appropriate starting point; and 2) TV3 are entitled to a substantial discount in circumstances where it apologised to the plaintiff on its main evening television bulletin within a few days of the first publication.
Defamation – quantum of damages – evening television news bulletin broadcast by the defendant mistakenly showed footage of the plaintiff while the accompanying speech made reference to his client who was a defendant in a fraud case – offer of amends pursuant to s. 22 of the Defamation Act 2009 – whether the starting point of an award of €200,000 damages was too high – how the court should assess damages in cases of unintentional defamation – appropriate level of discount in cases of this kind where an offer of amends has been made – level of damages – whether it had been (wrongly) assumed in the course of the High Court judgment that all the viewing public would confuse Mr. Christie’s identity with that of Mr. Byrne – starting point of €60,000 is appropriate and proportionate – what reduction should be given in view of the offer of amends – TV3 should receive a discount of 40% in recognition of the swiftness of the apology and the general prominence given to the apology – High Court award of €140,000 varied to €36,000 – appeal dismissed
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