Arrow left dark
Newsletter icon SUBSCRIBE

High Court: Sunday World ordered to pay €310K damages for defamatory articles about former GAA footballer

Clock icon Reading time: 5 minutes

A former GAA footballer who was subject to two seriously defamatory publications in the Sunday World has been awarded damages totalling €310,000. Mr Justice O’Connor found that the public scrutiny faced by the former footballer meant that aggravated and punitive damages were also necessary.

Image

About this case:

Background

Former GAA footballer, Mr Brian Nolan, claimed compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages for defamation, infringement of his right to privacy, and breach of confidence because of articles surrounded by photographs published in editions of The Sunday World in July 2012, and March 2013.

Mr Nolan played at all levels for County Kildare in Gaelic football; and Mr Justice O’Connor was satisfied that a small percentage of those who read the Sunday World would have identified Mr Nolan as an accomplished sportsman.

In November 2002, Mr Nolan having pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge; was fined IR£20,000 (€25,395) and given a suspended sentence by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

As such, Justice O’Connor explained that Mr Nolan had discharged his debt to society for that conviction by the sentence, fine, and subsequent publicity.

The recall of those events in the 2012 and 2013 publications – over a decade later – meant that Mr Nolan was brought back on the stage of nationally reviled convicts with serious consequences for Mr Nolan.

The Articles

On the front page of a July 2012 edition of the Sunday World had a photograph of Mr Nolan with the scantily clad upper body of a woman whose face was pixellated before highlighting “EX-GAA STAR IS THE BIGGEST SWINGER IN TOWN”.

This publication also included several photographs of Mr Nolan – with surrounding columns stating: “MEET the convicted money launderer and former GAA star who now gets his kicks as Ireland’s unofficial King of the Swingers”.

Thereafter, in March 2013, the Sunday World published what it described on the front page as a 12-page “real Irish Sunday investigation”

Mr Justice O’Connor was satisfied that Mr Nolan was characterised by the 2012 edition as a principal organiser of orgies in the State with a lurking undertone of criminality.

Further, a ‘reasonable person who glanced at the 2013 edition was likely to form the view that the characters (including Mr Nolan) identified were immersed in economic activities involving the provision of sexual services or activities.

Justice O’Connor added that the context in which Mr Nolan was placed in the 2013 edition was particularly awful given that there was ‘not a shred of evidence to support a suggestion or innuendo’ that Mr Nolan was involved in prostitution, pimping or any such type of illegal activity.

Award

Justice O’Connor explained that the delayed the delivery of this judgment allowed the Court to incorporate Christie v. TV3 IECA 128. Further, the Court was assisted by the majority judgment in Leech v Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd 2 IR 214 - the headings in that judgment being:

  1. The gravity of the libel

  2. The extent of the publication

  3. The conduct of the defendant

  4. The impact of the defamation

  5. Freedom of expression

    6. Justice O’Connor found that the defamation was very serious – in that on a scale of 1 to 100, it reached 75. The impact on the defendant was immense; and the Court had to consider that damages for defamation must send out a message of caution not only to the person who defames but also to the wider public for the benefit of the defamed.

    In Mr Nolan’s case, the starting point in a defamation of the kind presented rose to €250,000 because of the elapse of time between the 2012 edition and the even more defamatory 2013 edition.

    Aggravated damages, having regard to s 32(1) of the Defamation Act 2009, had to consider the defendant’s failure to respond to the initial letter of complaint; and the contribution to the delay in having Mr Nolan’s claim determined along with the manner of defending the claim at trial, which meant that Mr Nolan had to undergo further public scrutiny and wait years for the vindication of his rights.

    Mr Nolan was therefore awarded €30,000 for aggravated damages

    Pursuant to s 32 (2) of the Defamation Act 2009, punitive damages had to consider the following:

    1. The defendant intended to publish the defamatory editions to its considerable readership, flaunted that the statements were about Mr Nolan and was reckless as to whether the details and suggestions were accurate or true.

    2. It made matters considerably worse by slovenly relying for the 2013 edition on the material available for the defamatory 2012 edition.

    3. Furthermore, it did not contact Mr Nolan about the clear suggestion of very serious criminality which it made in the 2013 edition

    4. the defendant sold some 148,759 copies of the 2013 edition; and proceeded to today without any offer of apology while pocketing all the revenue for its 12-page investigation on that day which grossly defamed Mr Nolan.

      5. Taking all the above into account, Justice O’Connor directed the defendant to pay a further €30,000 in punitive damages.

      Consequently, the total award made to Mr Nolan was €310,000.

      • by Seosamh Gráinséir for Irish Legal News

        • Share icon
        Share this article: