Duffy v News Group Newspapers Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: McCarthy J.
• Judgment Date: 26 June 1992
• Neutral Citation: 1992 WJSC-SC 1964
• Court: Supreme Court
• Date: 26 June 1992

DUFFY v. NEWSGROUP NEWSPAPERS LTD

BETWEEN

EUGENE DUFFY

PLAINTIFF

AND

NEWSGROUP NEWSPAPERS LIMITED, WENDY HENRY AND MIKEBEAUMONT

DEFENDANTS/RESPONDENTS

1992 WJSC-SC 1964

Hederman J.

McCarthy J.

Costello J.

357/91

THE SUPREME COURT

Synopsis:

PRACTICE

Consolidation

Causes - Defamation - Class - Libels - Sports club - Chairman and members claiming damages in separate actions - Distinct issues - Whether libel of class referred to each plaintiff - Whether consolidation appropriate - Test applicable - Rules of the Superior Courts, 1986, order 49, r. 6 - (357/91 - Supreme Court - 26/6/92) - [1992] 2 I.R. 369 - [1992] ILRM 835

|Duffy v. Newsgroup Newspapers Ltd.|

Citations:

RSC O.49 r6

HORWOOD V STATESMAN PUBLISHING CO 1929 KB 452

DAWS V DAILY SKETCH 1960 1 WLR 126

MALONE V GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY 1931 IR 1

O'NEILL V RYAN UNREP BLAYNEY 21.5.90 1990/8/2193

GATLEY, LIBEL & SLANDER 8ED PARA 1221

LE FANU V MALCOMSON 1848 1 HLC 637

LAW REFORM COMMISSION CONSULTATION PAPER ON THE CIVIL LAW OF DEFAMATION 1991

1 McCarthy J.delivered the 26th day of June, 1992.[NEMDISS]

2 The Plaintiff lives near Crossmaglen County Armagh; he was at all material times and still is Chairman of Crossmaglen Rangers Gaelic Football Club. He is a building contractor with a substantial business in Northern Ireland. The first Defendant is the proprietor and publisher of the News of the World newspaper and of the magazine Sun Day distributed with that newspaper. It has a wide circulation throughout Ireland and, no doubt, throughout Great Britain. The second Defendant is the Editor of the newspaper and the third Defendant was at all material times a journalist employed by the newspaper. On the 6th November 1988 the Defendants published a three pagearticle in the magazine section of the newspaper under the heading "British Marine breaks silence to reveal full horror of Northern Ireland." The second and more striking heading was "THE IRA DRILLED THROUGH HIS BRAIN". The article is set out in full in the Statement of Claim delivered on the 25th August 1989. Part of the article reads as follows:-

"Recruited mainly from the SAS the marines and paras, the 14 INT men also take charge of some of the hardest surveillance jobs."

3 "At one briefing just before a night patrol we were told we were to be accompanied by 2 men. We were ordered not to talk to them or even look at them, but simply to let them move with us until we got near a Gaelic Football Club hall some yards from the Crossmaglen camp.

4 As we got to the playing field I spotted one of the men on his belly rolling rapidly along - he was completely blacked-out and was heavily armed. He was covered in electronic equipment that I'd never seen before, and he had a load of camera gear strapped to his back. We passed close to the hall, and then marched away into the distance. But they stayed inside that building for a whole week."

5 Sitting in silence for 7 days, aware that any moment could spell disaster or death, these two men from 14 INT recorded details of terrorist plots as they were being planned just feet away

6 "They would have found a space in the attic, under the floor-boards, heaven knows where" says David. "They'd have carried rations and disposed of their body wastes into plastic bags - smells can give you away as easily as noises.

7 Those men must have lived in hell for 7 days, soaking up information. But if anyone had stumbled on them, that person would have had his throat cut instantly and then they would have slipped out just as quietly as they arrived.""

8 Other parts of the article describe actions of a particularly revolting nature which are attributed to terrorists. The innuendos pleaded in the Statement of Claim include the contention that the words in the article meant and were understood to mean that the premises of the GAA club were used as a meeting place for the IRA, this with the co-operation or connivance of the Plaintiff. The defence filed on the 10th April 1990 denies that the words were printed, published or written of or concerning the Plaintiff or that the words were understood to mean or were capable of any meaning that was defamatory of the Plaintiff. It is denied that the Plaintiff has been associated with terrorist subversive or criminal organisation as alleged or at all, although I cannot identify any such allegation in the Statement of Claim save in so far as it may be inferred from the article itself. It is not contended in the defence that the words, in particular that portion which I have cited, are true in substance or in fact.It may not be that the Defendants intended to admit that the article and, in particular, the allegations concerning the Crossmaglen GAA Club, are false; it was open to the Defendants to contend that insofar as the allegations refer to the Crossmaglen GAA Club and, a fortiori, those responsible for it, were true. The Defendants were content, however, to deny that the article bore any meaning defamatory of the Plaintiff. One might assume, in the circumstances, that the article is a tissue of lies invented by its author.

9 Apart from the claim by the instant Plaintiff, other actions have been brought by other members of the committee of the GAA Club and, whilst they have not reached the same stage in proceeding as the instant case, it is clear that the substantial issue in each case is whether or not the article refers to the Plaintiff. If it does, there being no plea of justification, privilege or fair comment, the article being grossly defamatory, the only issue can be the amount of damages which, on any view, must be large. The Defendants moved under Order 49 Rule 6 of the Rules of the Superior Courts for an order providing for joint trials of the action herein together with the other named actions or in the...