Nation Media Group will now have to pay lawyer Danstan Omari Sh 9 million for defaming him.
This is after Omari won the defamation case against the media house for calling him a poor communicator.
Principal Magistrate B. Cheloti while delivering the judgement said that Nation Media’s acts were defamatory and hence damaging to Omari’s reputation.
“The defendant published an unqualified retraction of all defamatory statements and an unconditional apology on a whole page of the daily newspaper, “added Cheloti.
She awarded Omari general damages, aggravated damages, and cost of the suit among other interests.
“I am of the opinion that the computation below will be sufficient compensation to Omari, “added Cheloti.
She ruled that the words intended to lower Omari’s reputation and would cause him to be avoided or shunned and he lost clients and briefs because of that article.
The judge ruled that Omari has argued his case beyond a balance of probabilities, he has satisfied the threshold required for the tort of defamation to succeed as has met all the key ingredients required.
Omari moved to court seeking a declaration that the media house’s acts were defamatory and hence damaging to his reputation.
He averred the station had willfully published in its dalies, both print on page 11 and online dated January, 2022, false defamatory statements by erroneously and maliciously under the title: “Cheers and boos: Here are the best and worst public communicators of 2021”.
He argued that he came across the defamation from a lawyers WhatsApp forum composed of senior and brilliant colleagues at the Bar.
The lawyer said that the defendant’s publication was heavy laden with malice and obtuseness with the direct intent of damaging reputation, his professional standing in society as the impugned publication has caused deleterious effects to his business and practice as an Advocate, Political Analyst and Senior Law Lecturer at the time.
Omari averred he resigned from being a law lecturer on May 31, 2022 whilst the article had been published on 6 January, 2022.
He said the publication had indicated his cases were likely to fail.
He resigned from Catholic University because of the publication. Some of his clients have left his services and he has since lost briefs because he had been portrayed as a poor communicator.
He averred his esteem had been lowered by the said publication as the publication crushed what he had built for over 40 years.
Nation media have since appealed the judgment at the High court
