What is the likely cost of bringing an action?

These types of claims will usually be complex and require specialist legal advice and representation which could be costly.
You will usually need to pay your legal costs in advance including court office stamp duty fees and solicitors and barristers professional fees. If your claim is successful however, these costs will be recoverable.

Will the defendant be able to pay damages?

You should only consider bringing a case against the defendant if you think they have the financial means to pay you damages in the event of a successful action. If not, you could be left without any compensation.

Has there been actual damage to your reputation?

In order to bring an action you will need to know the precise remarks or statement that was published about you.

The remarks or statement will need to have been communicated and/or published and be sufficiently wide enough so as to lower your reputation or create a negative image of you in the eyes of right-thinking people. You cannot bring an action for defamation if the remarks made were largely true.

You could be defamed even where the published material doesn’t specifically name you. For example a photo of someone with a derogatory caption may be sufficient.

Am I too late to bring a claim?

Any claim must be filed within one year from the date of publication but there is provision in the 2009 Act for a Court to extend this to two years where a claimant has established that it would be in the interests of justice to grant an extension of time and has also shown that the publisher will not be unduly prejudiced by such extension of time.

You can call our Dublin offices on 01-5547854 if you think you have a case and would like to discuss the matter further with our experienced defamation lawyer.

What are the likely Damages to be awarded?

When an injured party succeeds in proving defamation, the jury may award damages as compensation for the injury caused. Damages will vary depending on the nature of the statement and the extent of the publication.

The highest ever damages award made in this jurisdiction in a defamation case was €10 million in November 2010 to businessman Donal Kinsella.

Under the 2009 Act, the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court was increased to €50,000 in defamation matters, which may ensure that more matters are instigated in the Circuit Court and thus reducing the potential legal costs of claims.
In addition, the Act allows a judge sitting with a jury in a defamation case to give directions to the jury in relation to ‘the matter of damages.’
The judge will often ask the jury to consider some of the following when considering the question of damages to be awarded:

• the nature and gravity of the original publication
• the means of publication, (audio visual media, print etc) and the possible lasting nature of same
• extent of circulation of the defamatory statement
• any offers of apology or amends made

Could the defendant have a defence?

There are a total of nine defences available to a defendant.

1. Consent

There will be no action available where a person has consented to publication of the statement/material.

2. Truth

If the publisher is able to prove that the material published is true in all material respects then the claim will fail.

3. Privilege

In certain circumstances a publication made may fall under the protection of absolute privilege and the claimant will fail in their action even where the statement has been made maliciously. These circumstances include where a statement is made in either House of the Oireachtas by a Senator or TD or where a statement has been made in a court judgment for example.

4. Qualified Privilege

This defence may apply in circumstances where a person has a legal, moral or a social duty to impart the information and the recipient has a similar duty to receive the communication and is particularly relevant to the media.
The defence will not be available however if the statement is malicious.

5. Innocent publication

This defence will be made out if it is proved:

• A person who is not the original author of the material at issue and took reasonable care in relation to the publication of same.
• And had no reason to believe that he/she contributed to or caused the defamatory publication or had no reason to believe that his/her actions would lead to defamation proceedings.

This is especially relevant for repetition of a defamatory statement as this counts as a separate act of defamation.

6. Honest Opinion

There will be a defence to the publication if it can be proved that the statement consisted of an opinion that was honestly held by the publisher and:

• at the time of publication, the defendant believed in the truth of the opinion;
• the opinion was based on proven (or honestly believed) allegations of fact that were known to those to whom the statement was published, or
• the opinion was based on proven (or reasonably likely) allegations of fact which were privileged and the opinion related to a matter of public interest.

7. Fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest

This will apply when it can be proved that the statement was made in good faith on a subject of public interest for the benefit of the public however the statement must be in all of the circumstances fair and reasonable.

8. Offer of Amends

The publisher of a defamatory statement may make an offer of amends to the injured party and this must be in writing. They could chose to publish a correction or an apology or make a financial payment to the injured party.

9. Apology

An apology may be published as a part-defence and will be considered as mitigation of damages.