A massive $60 million lawsuit against Post Courier filed

Cloudy Bay Sustainable Forestry Limited, Ibrahim Elomar and Mamdouh Elomar today filed a writ of summons in the National Court against both the South Pacific Post Limited and its Editors.

The writ of summons claims damages against South Pacific Post Limited (the owner of Post Courier) and its editors for defaming them in three publications by the Post Courier in its paper and online editions of 3 September 2014, 4 September 2014 and 19 September 2014.  The plaintiffs bring the proceedings in circumstances where they say the publications were grossly defamatory of them, were utterly false, and were published in bad faith.

The first publication was a work of fiction.  The Post Courier was asked to make good its allegations, but in cowardly fashion did not even answer Cloudy Bay’s correspondence.  The second article purported to include a report of statements by the Prime Minister in Parliament, but in fact egregiously misreported him. The third article falsely and maliciously connected Cloudy Bay and its directors to the activities of third parties in Australia, misreporting material in the Australian newspaper in order to do so as the Post Courier sought to maintain the false attack on the plaintiffs.

The Post Courier has not only attacked the reputations of innocent parties, but also has wilfully disregarded the interests of the many Papua New Guinean employees of the company and their dependents, and the interests of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea itself in fostering sustainable development.  The false and defamatory publications have caused Cloudy Bay to be put in a financial position which may lead to further lay off of its national staff. That in itself is a cause of considerable distress to the directors of the company.

Cloudy Bay and its directors have no intention of standing idly by while their reputations are destroyed, its business ruined, and consequently the livelihoods of its employees and their dependants taken away.  They bring these proceedings in the expectation that their reputations will be fully vindicated and that those responsible will be ordered to pay compensation for the massive losses that have been incurred as a result of this irresponsible and mischievous journalism. 

In the writ of summons Cloudy Bay is claiming special damages.  At this stage the claim is estimated to be in order of $60,000,000 (USD) to $200,000,000 (USD) being the current estimated financial loss to Cloudy Bay occasioned by cancellation of commercial contracts caused by the publications.  The directors are also seeking aggravated damages on the basis that the imputations in the publications were false and the editors of the Post Courier were aware of that falsity.