Former Prime Minister Stuart Young has successfully defended a landmark defamation case against the Trinidad Express newspaper, securing over $500,000 in compensation following a recent appellate court ruling.
The lawsuit stems from a two-page paid advertisement published by the newspaper on September 7, 2017, while Young was serving as a Cabinet minister. The advertisement, allegedly paid for by an unidentified entity calling itself the “Concerned Citizens of T&T,” falsely accused Young of wrongdoing regarding the operations of the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC). The Trinidad Express admitted to running the ad without knowing the identity of the customer who purchased it.
Appellate Judges Nolan Bereaux, James Aboud, and Mark Mohammed entirely rejected the newspaper’s appeal against the initial decision made by Justice Betsy Ann Lambert-Peterson. Writing the judgment, Justice Bereaux severely criticized the newspaper for publishing the defamatory words for profit, especially since the publication already knew the allegations against Young were false. Months prior to the advertisement’s publication, the Trinidad Express had actually carried a report debunking those exact claims.
The court flatly rejected the newspaper’s attempts to rely on the defenses of reportage and qualified privilege. Justice Bereaux clarified that such defenses are strictly reserved for journalism concerning matters of public interest where verification is impractical before publication. “The appellant was not engaged in reporting the news,” Justice Bereaux stated, noting that the newspaper’s failure to make a plea of justification in its defense was “unsurprising” given its awareness of the untruth.
While the appellate court upheld the quantum of the damages awarded to Young, it provided critical legal guidance on how those damages should be classified. Justice Bereaux noted that the trial judge had erred by conflating aggravating and exemplary damages into a single award. Under the appellate court’s clarification, the $375,000 awarded will cover general damages—which includes the aggravating features of the case—while the remaining $125,000 will specifically cover exemplary damages to punish the unconstitutional and oppressive conduct. Justice Bereaux added that while the exemplary damages were at the “higher end of the scale,” this case was not the occasion to address the broader issue of excessive exemplary damage awards.
Young was represented in the matter by Colin Kangaloo, SC, Anthony Bullock, and Clay Hackett, while Farees Hosein represented the Trinidad Express.