- The magistrate further said that the article affected Omari as his law firm bore the brunt in that they lost clients and briefs.
- The court further said that a few months after the publication of the article, Omari resigned from being a lecturer where he had been for 10 years.
Image: FILE
A local media station has been ordered by a Nairobi court to pay City lawyer Danstan Omari Sh9million for calling him a poor communicator.
In a judgement delivered by principal magistrate B. Cheloti on March 31, ruled the published article by the Nation media group did affect the lawyer by lowering his reputation in the estimation of right minded people as it called his clients to avoid him..
The magistrate further said that the article affected Omari as his law firm bore the brunt in that they lost clients and briefs.
The court further said that a few months after the publication of the article, Omari resigned from being a lecturer where he had been for 10 years.
"I find malice in the fact that the article had to to have undergone various editorial processes before the same was published," the magistrate said.
It was the court's view that Omari had argued the case beyond the balance of probabilities.
He had satisfied the threshold required for the tort of defamation to succeed.
He ruled that Nation media's acts were defamatory and hence damaging to the lawyer's reputation.
He also ordered that a permanent injunction restraining the media house whether by itself and/or its agents from publishing, writing any defamatory statements regarding Omari.
The media house has been ordered to also do publish an unqualified retraction of all defamatory statements and an unconditional apology on a whole page.
"I am of the opinion the computation will be sufficent compensation to the Plaintiff and award as follows:
"General damages in the amount of Sh, 6,000,000 for libel and Aggravated damages in the amount of Sh. 3,000,000," the magistrate ruled.
Last year, Omari moved to court seeking a declaration that the media house's acts were defamatory and hence damaging to his reputation.
He averred the station had willfully published in its dalies, both print on page 11 and online dated January, 2022, false defamatory statements by erroneously and maliciously under the title: "Cheers and boos: Here are the best and worst public communicators of 2021".
He argued that he came across the defimation from a lawyers WhatsApp forum comprising of senior and brilliant colleagues at the Bar.
The lawyer said that the defendant's publication was heavy laden with malice and obtuseness with the direct intent of damaging reputation, his professional standing in society as the impugned publication has caused deleterious effects to his business and practice as an Advocate, Political Analyst and Senior Law Lecturer at the time.
During cross-examination, Omari averred he resigned from being a law lecturer on May 31, 2022 whilst the article had been published on 6 January, 2022.
He said rhe publication had indicated his cases were likely to fail.
He resigned from Catholic University because of the publication. Some of his clients have left his services and he has since lost briefs because he had been portrayed as a poor communicator.
He averred his esteem had been lowered by the said publication as the publication crushed what he had bullt for over 40 years.
Nation media have since appealed the judgment at the High court