(Trinidad Express) Defamatory posts on social media have cost one user more than $1 million which he has been ordered by the High Court to pay to chief executive of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), Davlin Thomas.
Justice Margaret Mohammed yesterday directed that the user, Naresh Siewah, pay to Thomas general damages inclusive of aggravated damages in the sum of $.8 million plus interest as well as $.1 million in exemplary damages. In addition, Siewah was ordered to bear Thomas’s legal fees in the sum of $101,500—a grand total of $1,001,500.
Thomas was seeking $1.2 million.
The order was made after the judge said she found that Siewah deliberately intended to lower Thomas’s reputation in the eyes of the public when he posted 14 statements on Facebook between March 25, 2020, and June 9, 2020.
The posts were published on Siewah’s personal Facebook page as well as the group Facebook pages of “TrinbagoLivesMatter” and “THE VOICE OF TnT 99%”.
The judge said in her view, based on the way the statements were worded, “it was reasonable that right thinking members of society would have formed the view that the claimant was corrupt, mismanaged public funds and misappropriated public funds for his personal use”.
They would have also formed the view that Thomas was not fit to hold public office, defrauded the State for his personal benefit and is an incompetent CEO of the NCRHA, who favoured certain “PNM contractors”, the judge said.
While Justice Mohammed said some of the questions asked by Siewah were, in fact, in the public’s interest, the insertion of certain unnecessary words in the posts was a personal attack on Thomas.
“The tone in all these posts were insincere, pessimistic, sensational and scandalous, she said.
The judge added: “There was some urgency in which the matters were raised as the circumstances of these posts were in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic and the NCRHA was primarily responsible for the State’s healthcare services to deal with the pandemic. They were also made in the period approximately four months prior to a general election in Trinidad and Tobago.”
Instead of taking to social media, Justice Mohammed said Siewah could have simply raised his concerns directly with Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh, the board of the NCRHA and Thomas himself.
“I have attached significant weight to the gravity of the allegations made in the defamatory posts. In my opinion, the Defendant could have raised the questions to the Minister of Health, the Board of the NCRHA and the Claimant as CEO of the NCRHA in a more sincere tone and with respectful language.
“However, the choice of the words used by the Defendant in the defamatory posts were deliberate, malicious and intended to injure the Claimant as CEO of the NCRHA, and in his other professional and personal activities,” said the judge.
She said the nature of the allegations was that he is corrupt, engaged in fraudulent activities in the NCRHA, engaged in nepotism, is incompetent as the CEO of the NCRHA, mismanaged and misappropriated the funds of the NCRHA for his personal benefit, and engaged in favouring certain suppliers of the NCRHA based on political affiliation.
