Man ordered to pay €75k damages for Facebook defamation

Irish Times 17th of June 2016

Judge says order should teach people to be careful when posting on social media

A Co Monaghan man who posted a defamatory item on Facebook about the national director of the country’s game shooting body has been ordered to pay €75,000 in damages.

In awarding the maximum allowable damages against the national director, Judge John O’Hagan told Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday that his order should “teach people posting messages on the social media site to be very careful”.

Man took the civil action against another man in relation to a Facebook comment posted on or about December 22nd, 2015.

The court heard the defamatory item on Facebook suggested man, as its national director, had caused the National Regional Game Council to go “broke”.

The man gave an outline of how the Facebook comment had resulted in questions being raised by members about the organisation’s finances, and legal costs, and had resulted in a confrontation that led to him being suspended on full pay by the body.

The man failed to appear in court and counsel said that although he engaged in some early communication with the plaintiff, he had since “abandoned” the matter.

Judge O’Hagan granted the award of €75,000 damages with costs, as stated

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/man-ordered-to-pay-75k-damages-for-facebook-defamation-1.2688741