Restaurateur wins Lm550 in libel case

A restaurant owner has been awarded Lm550 in damages after it resulted that comments made in a letter published on The Sunday Times were libellous.

It eventually resulted that the letter, in which the restaurant's service was criticised, referred to the wrong venue.

Magistrate Silvio Meli ordered the newspaper editor, Laurence Grech, to pay restaurant owner Joseph Camilleri Lm300 in damages. The author of the letter, Karl Consiglio, was ordered to pay Lm250.

Mr Camilleri claimed that he had been libelled by a letter written by Mr Consiglio and published on November 28, 2004.

In the letter, Mr Consiglio had alleged that service in the restaurant La Trattoria, in Marsalforn, was "worse than terrible".

According to Mr Consiglio, he and his girlfriend had gone to eat at La Trattoria restaurant and he had complained of the service there.

The restaurant owner had claimed that the publication of the letter had a devastating effect on his business, as he relied on word of mouth advertising.

Mr Camilleri had replied to Mr Consiglio's letter, and his reply was published in The Sunday Times on January 2, 2005.

But the court noted that Mr Grech, as the newspaper's editor, had declared that Mr Consiglio had been contacted by the newspaper in connection with the letter he had written. Mr Consiglio had confirmed to the newspaper that he had been referring to La Trattoria in his letter.

However, in a court sitting held earlier this year, Mr Consiglio had discovered that he had erroneously indicated La Trattoria as the restaurant in which he had received bad service.

Mr Consiglio confirmed that he had been contacted by the newspaper and that he had confirmed the contents of his letter.

Magistrate Meli pointed out that although Mr Grech had been prompt to declare that he had verified his sources before proceeding to publication, he had failed to make any comment following the publication of Mr Consiglio's apology to Mr Camilleri, which apology was carried in The Sunday Times. This failure on the part of Mr Grech showed bad faith on his part when faced with such a serious error.

The court heard that Mr Grech had pleaded that, having verified the contents of the letter with Mr Consiglio, he could not be found guilty of libel.

This argument, the court noted, indicated a lack of seriousness, but was also unfounded. Verification was found to have been superficial, and the newspaper had failed to contact Mr Camilleri for his comments on the matter.

Magistrate Meli added that if verification was carried out in the manner described by Mr Grech, then one of the most prestigious local newspapers could not be trusted.

In conclusion, the court ordered Mr Consiglio to pay Lm250 in damages to Mr Camilleri.

Mr Grech was ordered to pay the restaurateur Lm300 in damages.