Appeal court confirms libel judgment

Mr Justice Philip Sciberras in the Court of Appeal has confirmed a libel judgment which awarded Dr Giannella Caruana Curran Lm800 in libel damages.

The court heard that Dr Caruana Curran had filed a writ in the Magistrates' Court against Stephen Chetcuti and Frank Theuma.

Plaintiff had felt libelled by a letter captioned "Support for Chief Justice" published in The Malta Independent on December 4, 2002.

The letter was written by Mr Theuma and Mr Chetcuti was the newspaper editor.

Plaintiff had requested the court to condemn defendants to pay her libel damages.

In its judgment the Magistrates' Court had pointed out that although the letter did not make specific reference to Dr Caruana Curran she was easily identifiable as being the subject of the letter.

Furthermore, the letter categorically asserted that the defence lawyer in a particular case had acted in a dishonest and deceitful manner.

The Magistrates' Court had added that the court could not tolerate such insults to a lawyer carrying out her duties at court.

Mr Theuma was ordered to pay Lm500 in libel damages while Mr Chetcuti was ordered to pay plaintiff Lm300.

On an appeal filed by Mr Theuma the Court of Appeal noted that the right to freedom of expression had to be exercised in conjunction with the protection of the reputation of third parties.

In this case the criticism in the letter exceeded the bounds of decency, and the court confirmed the judgment of the Magistrates' Court.