You will all be familiar with Monica Leech case, which is currently before the Supreme Court. This is the case where an allegation that Monica Leech was having an affair with a government minister resulted in a High Court jury awarding her €1.87 million in damages. That order is currently being appealed to the Supreme Court on the basis that it is disproportionately high.
I would put it in a slightly different light. I would not say this award was disproportionately high. I would say that it is one of the most outrageous decisions every made by an Irish court and is the type of decision that could end up meaning that juries would no longer hear defamation cases.
Go on the Injuries Board website and look at their Book of Quantum. If you are in a road traffic accident and you are paralysed from the neck down for the rest of your life, you will generally not receive much more than €400,000. You will see the type of compensation you can expect to get if you lose your legs in an accident or if you lose your sight in an accident.
I acted for many applicants concerning cases dealt with by the Residential Institutions Redress Board. Some of these were absolutely dreadful cases of young children being horribly sexually abused. Many of them were clearly extraordinarily damaged. Many suffered from alcoholism, had broken down marriages or had never got into a relationship in the first place. Applicants who had never been able to hold down a job were being offered €30,000 or €40,000 to settle their cases.
When I compare damages that are awarded in cases where applicants have suffered very serious life threatening and permanent injuries and look at the amount of awarded to Monica Leech then I have to say that this type of award brings the whole area of defamation into disrepute.
A person’s reputation is a very precious thing. I would be the first to accept that and I would be the first to accept that if a person has been genuinely defamed and has suffered as a result, they should be handsomely compensated and the person who did the defaming should be handsomely penalised. However, let’s be sensible and realistic. The award in this case was outrageous. As I write this, the Supreme Court has not handed down its verdict and I am sure that whatever final order is made, it will be ten times over and above any reasonable amount that should be awarded. I certainly hope however that it will be massively reduced.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Brophy,
Firstly, Kevin, this isn't the 'Monica Leech Case' at all; this is the 'independent News and Media' case where the aforementioned subsidiary of multinational media conglomerate 'Mediabytes' are on trial appealing the verdict 12 good and true men and women of Ireland delivered against them for maligning and destroying a woman and her family over a period of ten years without apology, in order to sell newspapers by taking a real person and depicting them as a cartoon character for the masses as they invent lies and portray her as being so incompetent that the only way she could advance her career was to deliver sexual favours in exchange for contracts.
ReplyDeleteThe size of the award is not alone reflective of the loss of earnings as her career was annihilated overnight by these evil, soulless men and their lawyer friends like you who make people wait ten years for justice by side stepping reality with your little legal tricks; but is also intended to be a lash across the back of a tabloid press to ensure that they know the next time they take a professional woman and paint her as a harlot, this will be the price they pay. How dare you purport to comment on any of this, you disconnected idiot. You want to talk personal injuries?
Her husband is dead, he took his life. Their car was set alight outside their house and stones thrown at their windows regularly, her son was attacked on a night out for his leaving results and called the son of a whore. All because average Joe bloggs in his ignorance is programmed to believe LIES created by men who want to make money. The media made more than 1.8m out of the character they invented, but the Leech family paid the ultimate price, having done NOTHING wrong.
This has nothing to do with money for them, it has to do with creating a society where the women of Ireland, our mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, nieces and goddaughters and cousins; can pursue and advance their careers without being accused of progression by boss shagging. A society where the public agenda is not governed by British owned Tabloids. The Internet is filled with pure hate speech directed against this women that is sickening, all by men who do not know her at all, just like you sir, Mr. Brophy. Take your analysis and put it where your head is.