THE UNITED Kingdom Privy Council on Monday threw out an appeal brought by chartered accountant Leymon Strachan and ruled that Mr. Justice Clarence Walker had the jurisdiction to set aside Strachan's libel award against The Gleaner Company Ltd.
As a result, The Gleaner's defence to the action, which was filed in October 1996, will stand.
Strachan obtained a default judgment in April 1992 because the newspaper and its former editor, Dudley Stokes, did not file a defence to the suit which commenced in January 1992. In May 1995, damages were assessed by a jury which granted an award of $23 million.
DEFAULT JUDGMENT
Shortly after the award was published in the press, witnesses came forward and The Gleaner and Dr. Stokes successfully applied to set aside the default judgment. They also received permission to file a defence within 14 days of the order. The Gleaner relied on affidavits from several Customs officials to show that it had an arguable defence to the defamation claim. The presiding judge Mr. Justice Walker (now a retired Court of Appeal Judge) accepted that such evidence was not available to allow The Gleaner to file a defence in the stipulated time.
The Gleaner and Dr. Stokes then applied to a single judge in the Court of Appeal for the return of money which was paid into a joint account in return for a stay of execution pending an appeal of the $23 million award. Mr. Justice Henderson Downer (now retired) refused to pay out the sum and, without an application being before the court, decided to reverse Mr. Justice Walker's decision to set aside the default judgment. The Gleaner successfully appealed Mr. Justice Downer's decision before a panel of three Court of Appeal Judges.
PRELIMINARY OBJECTION
Strachan then went back to the Supreme Court, bringing an application before Mr. Justice Algernon Smith on May 15, 1997 asking that Mr. Justice Walker's decision be set aside, because damages had already been assessed thereby rendering any subsequent Supreme Court decision to set aside the award, a nullity. Mr. Justice Smith upheld a preliminary objection by The Gleaner's attorneys that he had no jurisdiction to set aside Mr. Justice Walker's decision.
Mr. Justice Smith's decision was unsuccessfully appealed by Strachan before the Court of Appeal and so was taken to the Privy Council. The Privy Council in dismissing Strachan's appeal, said that the conclusion that Mr. Justice Walker sitting in the Supreme Court had jurisdiction to make the order he did was well supported by authorities. "Since their Lordships are of the opinion that Justice Walker did have jurisdiction to make the order he did, it is not strictly necessary to discuss the question whether Justice Smith would have had jurisdiction to set it aside as a nullity if he did not," the Privy Council held.
