Court turns down appeal in libel case

The Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed a judgment of the First Hall of the Civil Court in terms of which members of the Drydocks Council were ordered to pay Lm600 to former government minister Michael Falzon.

The first court delivered judgment in 2002 in the case filed by Mr Falzon against Sammy Meilaq, Louis Spiteri, Joseph Camilleri, Gaston Debono Grech, Lino Gatt, Alfred Micallef, Joseph Saliba, Lino Vassallo and Charles Cremona.

Mr Falzon had felt libelled by a poster stuck to the Malta Drydocks Corporation building in Cospicua which read Michael Falzon Ministru Mbroljun Jaghti l-Offerti Oghla b' Miljun.

The poster was seen on September 24, 1990, and for many subsequent days.

The Drydocks Council was responsible for the running of the Drydocks, and Mr Falzon claimed that the members of the council were responsible for the libel and for the damages he had sustained.

The first court found that the wording of the poster was clearly libellous and was not acceptable in a civil society.

But the council members had pleaded that they were not the authors of the poster, nor had they commissioned it.

The members added that the council managed the affairs of the Malta Drydocks collectively in accordance with the wishes of the majority. The members added that Drydocks' property and the everyday business of the Drydocks was controlled by the Drydocks management.

However, the first court ruled that the poster was affixed on the Drydocks building, and that responsibility for the poster lay with the Drydocks.

The Dockyards Act specified that the business of the Drydocks corporation was run by the Drydocks Council.

The court also noted that none of the council members had taken any measures to avoid the affixing of posters.

The council members were ordered to pay Mr Falzon Lm600 in libel damages.

The council members lodged an appeal to the Court of Appeal composed of Mr Justice Joseph D. Camilleri, Mr Justice Anton Depasquale and Mr Justice Albert J. Magri.

The court noted that the members had not produced any evidence to show that the Drydocks had nothing to do with the poster.

They had not shown that the Drydocks had a strict policy to prevent the affixing of such posters on its property, nor had they proven that they had investigated this incident or similar ones.

The Court of Appeal added that the first court had correctly applied the law when it found the members of the Drydocks council responsible for libel.