Kaieteur News asks Court to make final decision in Brassington libel suits

Apr 06, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – Kaieteur News (KN) Publisher, Glenn Lall has asked the High Court to make the final decision in at least five remaining libel suits former CEO of the National Industrial and Commercial Investment limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington had filed against the newspaper.

Justice Fidela Corbin

Brassington has sued KN 19 times for defamatory remarks in which the newspaper published against him in the satirical ‘Dem Boys She’ column. The former CEO had won several cases before the court in which he secured judgment awards of amounting to over $40 million. Kaieteur News has since asked the court to consolidate the remaining matters and make a final determination in the case.

On Wednesday, Lall through his attorney, Christopher Thompson asked presiding High Court Justice Fidela Corbin to make her decision, while considering the hefty judgment award that Brassington has already been granted in the multiple suits that he won against the newspaper. Brassington had received over $40 million in judgment awards for damages under his claim. As such, Lall’s attorney asked the court to consider that the Former Head of the NICIL had already been adequately compensated for the purported damages to his name and character and as such, the court need not grant him, any other monetary award.

The lawyer contended further that if the court should consider an award, it should be given in a nominal sum. The lawyer argued that Brassington filed over a dozen lawsuits outlining the same allegations over and over again. Thompson proposed therefore that to save precious judicial time the matters should be dealt with collectively.

Senior Counsel, Timothy Jonas representing Brassington was not in agreement with the suggestion. He said that the Court should consider that Lall engaged in a smear campaign against his client, who suffered and must be adequately compensated. He reasoned that though the court awarded judgment before it ought to consider that the repeated attacks meted out against his client. In response, Justice Corbin noted that the Court will take into consideration and assess the damages based on what has been presented in the evidence. The judge noted too that allegations in the matters before the court were almost identical to each other. She noted that it was almost as if the accusations had been “copied and pasted” to the documents. The judge said she will make her considerations and make her final decision on June 30^th at 11:00 am.

Brassington secured the judgments against the newspaper after the Court upheld his contention that statements published by KN were defamatory and meant or understood to mean that he as NICIL’s head was “dishonest and had been guilty of criminal activity and was habitually guilty of criminal activity and had engaged in criminal fraud and corrupt practices.” He claimed that the information severely impacted his character and integrity given that it was published in a newspaper which was widely read and circulated throughout Guyana and online where it is read worldwide.

The former CEO had won five cases before Justice Corbin-Lincoln in which he secured judgment awards of $3.5 million for each case bringing it to a total of $17.5 million. In another case, which was tried before Justice Navindra Singh, Brassington was awarded $10 million against KN by the Court. The sums calculated with an interest of four percent per annum along with legal fees brought the total to $34.4 million. In another judgment award, Brassington secured an additional $2 million award against the newspaper. The sum took the amount to over of $36.4 million.

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Glenn Lall, High Court, Kaieteur News (KN) Publisher, National Industrial and Commercial Investment limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington

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