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Award of damages to woman who was accused of stealing clothes from shop
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High Court, hearing an appeal from the Circuit Court: (a) awards woman who was accused of stealing clothing from one of the defendant's stores €10,000 in damages, including €7,500 for defamation and €2,500 in aggravated damages; and (b) finds that the defendant, having first of all advanced the defence of justification, cannot then rely on the alternative defence of qualified privilege, as it adduced no evidence that its security guard had a genuine but mistaken belief that theft had occurred.
Appeal from an order of the Circuit Court - Plaintiff awarded damages of €20,000 for slander, false imprisonment, assault, battery and/or trespass to the person - claim arises from events which occurred on 3rd May, 2008 in a shopping mall at Parkway, Limerick - plaintiff and her twelve year old daughter shopping for a confirmation outfit - plaintiff had two bags with her - while in drapery section they came to the attention of one of the defendant’s security staff - plaintiff approached by employee of defendant just outside premises - court finds that plaintiff was not assaulted or imprisoned - court finds that defamatory statement was published by defendant's security guard - court finds that plaintiff made racist statement about the security guard in aftermath of incident - court finds that plaintiff contributed to the publication by refusing to go back to premises - court finds that defendant cannot run defence of qualified privilege where it continues to say that theft occurred - court holds that injustice to defendant would be done were this to be allowed - court awards defendant €10,000 in damages, €7,500 in general damages and €2,500 in aggravated damages.
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