The Supreme Court has reserved judgment on an appeal by Independent Newspapers against the amount of a £300,000 award made to former Social Welfare Minister Proinsias De Rossa in a libel action against the Sunday Independent.
The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, sitting with Ms Justice Denham, Mr Justice Barrington, Mr Justice Murphy and Mr Justice Lynch, yesterday said the court would have to reserve judgment in view of the issues raised in the appeal.
The parties should not anticipate receiving a judgment until the next law term, beginning on January 11th, Mr Justice Hamilton added.
The appeal is only against the amount of the award, and not the finding of libel. The award was made in the High Court in July 1997 following an article by journalist Eamon Dunphy published in the Sunday Independent in December 1992.
In closing submissions for Independent Newspapers yesterday, Mr Kevin Feeney SC said damages in defamation actions should be proportionate and compensatory. The legal system in defamation actions did not act in isolation. The largest award in a defamation action of which he was aware, and which had been "stood over" by the Supreme Court, was £90,000. The most significant thing was the actual defamation as found by the jury, counsel argued. There could be aggravating factors. The compensatory damages system in personal injuries and defamation operated in a certain framework. All parties in the lower courts operated in the knowledge of what was the potential exposure and scale in relation to damages. The system operated within a pyramid which came from the ultimate determination of the Supreme Court. If the highest award was to go from £90,000 to £300,000, there would be a public policy consequence in relation to the knock-on effect throughout the scale of damages, Mr Feeney said.
If that situation were "imported" into personal injuries actions, and there was a 330 per cent increase in the higher awards, all lower levels of damages would have increased demands, he submitted. It was for the court to determine whether damages awarded in a case were appropriate or not and legislative intervention in the area was not required.