Gerald Kean awarded €160,000 in damages in defamation case
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Gerald Kean
Prominent solicitor Gerald Kean has been awarded €160,000 in damages and costs by the High Court after a jury found that he was defamed in a newspaper article.
Mr Kean sued news publisher Independent Star Ltd over an Irish Daily Star article published on 11 March 2016 concerning a visit by Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) officers to his offices, The Irish Times reports.
In a majority verdict, a jury of five women and seven men found that the article, headlined “Kean caught up in CAB probe”, meant that Mr Kean was the subject of a CAB probe into gangland activity.
In reality, CAB officers visited the solicitor’s offices to obtain a conveyancing file relating to a 2015 house purchase by one of the firm’s clients.
An application for a stay on the damages order will be heard by Mr Justice Bernard Barton on Wednesday.
Mr Kean was represented in the case by senior counsel Jim O’Callaghan and Paul O’Higgins, instructed by solicitor Simon McAleese.
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