Court Of Appeal Substantially Reduces Award Of Damages For Defamation From €10 Million To €250,000

The Court of Appeal, in the landmark judgment of Kinsella v Kenmare Resources plc & Anor (1) delivered on 28 February 2019, has set aside an award of damages of €10 million as being disproportionate, unjust and unfair in the circumstances. This had been the highest award of damages for defamation in Ireland until it was set aside. The Court of Appeal substituted the original jury award of €10 million (€9 million in compensatory damages and €1 million in aggravated damages) for an award of compensatory damages of €250,000.

Matheson was instructed by the Defendants in relation to the appeal.

Facts

In 2010, a High Court jury found a press release issued by Kenmare Resources plc to be defamatory of the plaintiff. The jury awarded the plaintiff €9 million in compensatory damages and €1 million in aggravated damages. Kenmare appealed the jury determination on a number of grounds, including that the damages awarded to Mr Kinsella were so unreasonable as to be incapable of being upheld on appeal. While the Court considered four distinct issues, (2) the present update deals with the question of damages only.

Decision

The Court of Appeal (Irvine, Whelan and Baker JJ) unanimously found the award of compensatory damages of9 million was disproportionate, unjust and unreasonable in circumstances where no reasonable jury could have considered that an award of that magnitude was...