Man wins libel case over translation of legal term

A court yesterday upheld a libel action filed against Associated News Ltd by Philip Gatt in his personal capacity and on behalf of Resort Hotels Ltd, Resort Hotels Holdings Ltd, Rockleys Properties Ltd and Finvest International Ltd.

Gatt claimed he was libelled by a press release issued by Associated News in May 1997.

According to plaintiff, the press release had caused him to suffer damages in his business dealings because it stated that the hotel St Julien had been placed within the care of an "official receiver". This gave the impression that the hotel was in liquidation and had been removed from plaintiff's control so that its debts could be paid.

However, what had really occurred was the appointment of a third party by the court to administer the shares that were the subject of dispute. Such third party was known in Maltese as a sekwestratarju gudizzjarju.

Associated News claimed it had verified the contents of the press release with the court decree. The decree used the words sekwestratarju gudizzjarju rather than official receiver. Defendant company had difficulty translating the term and had discussed it with a lawyer and also with the Financial Times.

Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia, in the First Hall of the Civil Court, noted in his judgment that English common law provided that the publication, without malice, of a fair and accurate report of what took place before a judicial tribunal exercising its jurisdiction in open court was privileged and immune from prosecution.

It was not necessary that the report should be verbatim, for an abridged or condensed version would be privileged, provided that it provided a correct and just impression of what took place in court.

The term "official receiver" as distinct from the term "receiver" referred to matters of bankruptcy and liquidation of companies and its use by defendant company rendered the press release unfair and inaccurate.

In liquidating the damages the court noted that defendant company had verified its facts before publishing the press release.

Defendant company was ordered to pay Gatt Lm300 by way of damages.