By Barbara Gayle,Staff Reporter
Seaga
JLP LEADER Edward Seaga yesterday had a $20 million out-of-court settlement endorsed by the Supreme Court in a libel suit which he had brought against Western Broadcasting Services Ltd., former operators of Hot 102 radio which has now been taken over by CVM Communications Group.
Western Broadcasting, the first defendant, contended that the out-of-court settlement included defendants, The Breakfast Club Ltd. and Anthony Abrahams, journalist and talk show host.
But Ms. Justice Norma McIntosh, after hearing arguments and reviewing the agreement at a case-management conference at the Supreme Court, held that the agreement did not include those two defendants.
Mr. Seaga had filed a lawsuit contending that he was libelled on 'The Breakfast Club' radio programme in September 1999 during a discussion of a book Born Fi Dead, written by American writer Laurie Gunst and an article written by American writer Jeff Stein on Eli Tisona, an Israeli national, who used to run the Spring Plains Farm in Clarendon which exported winter vegetables in the 1980s. Tisona was banned from entering Jamaica in 1998 and was later convicted of money laundering charges in the United States.
The settlement between Seaga and Western Broadcasting in July this year was that of the $20 million, there should be a cash payment of $3 million and $17 million in advertisements on CVM Television and on Hot 102 FM, as well as a letter of apology.
PENDING
After Western Broadcasting claimed that the agreement included other defendants, Seaga's lawyers Emil George, Q.C. and Stacy Powell, instructed by the law firm DunnCox, argued that it was after the agreement was reached and acted upon that Western Broadcasting sought to include the The Breakfast Club and Abrahams.
The judge said that in effect, what the first defendant was seeking to do was to reopen the settlement agreement. She found that the agreement was binding.
The libel suit against the other four defendants, The Breakfast Club Ltd., Abrahams, Gunst and Stein is pending in the Supreme Court.
