Barbara Gayle, Justice Coordinator

The Supreme Court has ruled that a notice published in a newspaper informing the public that a person is no longer employed to a company is not defamatory.
Deandra Chung, a former employee of Future Services International Limited, had taken the company and its managing director, Yaneek Page, to court over several publications in March.

It was stated in the publications that Chung, who was a senior client relations officer between 2008 and February 2012, was no longer employed to the company.

She brought a claim that she was defamed and was seeking damages in excess of 35 million dollars.

When the matter came for hearing yesterday, attorneys-at-law Abe Dabdoub and Kevin Page, representing the defendants, applied for the case to be struck out on the grounds that the words were not capable of being defamatory.

Justice Donald McIntosh upheld the submissions and awarded legal and incidental costs to the defendants.

In dismissing the claim, Justice McIntosh said of significance was the fact that the defendants made no denial of the publication of the words and there was no complaint by the claimant that the publication bore any falsehood.

Leave to appeal was granted to Chung who is being represented by attorney-at-law Nigel Jones.

barbara.gayle@gelanerjm.com