Barbados Today will have to pay up.
Opposition Leader Mia Mottley will receive an undisclosed sum of money after winning a lawsuit against the online newspaper yesterday. The two parties agreed that the terms of compensation would remain confidential.
Mottley had sued the company and its Editor-in-Chief Kaymar Jordan following two published articles which questioned Mottley’s credibility and eligibility to practise law in Barbados.
Barbados Today also agreed to withdraw the allegations and imputations which were said to have caused Mottley “hurt, distress and embarrassment”.
The first article, carrying the headline Question Mark Remains Over Mottley’s Legal Certification, was published on June 9, 2017, while an editorial entitled Of Chance, Gossip, A Big Lie And Leadership was published on September 20.
That editorial was said to have called into question Mottley’s integrity, credibility and leadership attributes. It also suggested that she had been practising law illegally in Barbados.
The online paper also allowed statements from members of the public to be published on its Facebook page and website between June 9 and 17 which were defamatory.
Mottley’s lawyers, Queen’s Counsel Elliott Mottley and Leslie Haynes, along with Stewart Mottley, successfully argued before Justice Sonia Richards in the High Court that she was qualified to practise law in Barbados since December 18, 1987, the date of her admission by then Chief Justice Sir Denys Williams.
Attorneys Anthony Audain and Brian Barrow appeared on behalf of the defendants. (RB)