Joseph M Matalon wins defamation case against Jamaica Observer

The Supreme Court has awarded Joseph M Matalon $4.3 million in a defamation case against the Jamaica Observer.
     
The suit was filed because of a 2008 article published in the Caribbean Business Report.
     
The article was about a bond offering by the Mechala Group in the 1990s which resulted in investors receiving  47 US cents per dollar of their original investment. Matalon claimed that the article defamed him by  omitting critical facts;  misrepresenting other facts and portraying him as the  "chief architect of  a plot to fleece investors."
     
Supreme Court Judge Bryan Sykes rejected the Jamaica Observer's defence of  fair comment.
     
The judge said the article ought to have given a complete picture of the proceedings.
     
Sykes also rejected the Observer's defence of  qualified privilege saying responsible journalism had not been practiced.