Read the full judgment text of HCA 009417/1994 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 25 July 1996 before Doreen Le Pichon.
Defamation – libel – newspaper article on front page of Hongkong Standard – whether words "dismissed" and "sacked" in context of alleged passport scandal bear defamatory meaning – natural and ordinary meaning of words – article read as whole with headline, juxtaposition of three sackings, and reference to alleged scams – whether meaning of involvement encompasses reasonable suspicion of involvement – pleading – greater includes lesser – repetition rule – plea of justification – defendant must identify defamatory meaning sought to be justified – absence of apology or retraction – assessment of damages – libel of professional man, solicitor, Honorary Vice-Consul of Paraguay – front-page publication in established English-language newspaper with monthly circulation over 52,000 – aggravating conduct including persistence of plea of justification despite internal acknowledgment that Plaintiff had nothing to do with the scandal – adjustment for double recovery arising from parallel Chinese-language publication in Sing Tao Daily – injunction – order for costs – Plaintiff is a practising solicitor appointed Honorary Vice-Consul for Paraguay from 1989, with appointment gazetted in 1990 and terminated by Presidential Decree dated 11 August 1994 following a change of president in Paraguay – article appeared on front page of Hongkong Standard on 15 September 1994 under headline "Paraguay sacks honorary consul" reporting Paraguay had fired its honorary consul following launch of investigation into an alleged passport scandal, alongside reports of two other diplomats similarly sacked for alleged visa/passport misconduct – Plaintiff had been contacted by 5th Defendant before publication, denied knowledge of any scam, and described his termination as normal procedure consequent on the change of government – whether the article was libellous of the Plaintiff as pleaded – whether the natural and ordinary meaning of the words conveyed to the ordinary reasonable reader that the Plaintiff was sacked because of involvement in a passport scandal, that he was feigning ignorance, and that his explanation of normal procedure was false – held, yes; the Plaintiff was effectively placed in a rogues' gallery with the two other diplomats – held, the Defendants' limited plea of justification, which was not tied to a defamatory meaning identified by the Defendants, could not operate as a defence – quantum – proper award of damages HK$700,000 after adjustment to avoid double recovery, having regard to the seriousness of the libel, the prominence of the publication, the reckless and grossly negligent conduct of the Defendants, the persistence of the plea of justification, and the complete vindication of the Plaintiff – injunction granted – costs to the Plaintiff.
Legal issues: Natural and ordinary meaning of the words "dismissed" and "sacked" in the context of the article · Whether the meanings pleaded in para. 5(1), (3) and (4) of the Statement of Claim are made out · Validity of the Defendants' plea of justification · Assessment of damages for libel and adjustment for double recovery
Outcome: Judgment for the Plaintiff in the sum of HK$700,000; injunction granted; costs to the Plaintiff. The Defendants' plea of justification did not succeed.
Cited by 3 cases