Jury in Denis O'Brien defamation case told majority verdict is an option
The jury in the action by Denis O’Brien alleging he was defamed in articles published in the Sunday Business Post (SBP) have been told it is open to them to reach a majority verdict.
After the foreman of the 11-member jury told Mr Justice Bernard Barton at 12.40pm today they cannot reach a unanimous decision on each of the questions before them, the judge instructed them they can reach a majority decision.
That means at least nine of them must agree on the answers to the questions and it must be the same nine, or 10, in each case, he said.
The eight men and three women have been considering their verdict for almost six hours, having begun deliberations at 12.45pm yesterday.
Mr O’Brien is suing Post Publications Ltd, publisher of the SBP, over articles published over six pages in the newspaper of March 15, 2015 in which Mr O'Brien was named as amongst the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008.
Their focus was a confidential Price WaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report given to the Government in November 2008 which looked at the exposure of Ireland’s banks in 2008.
Journalist Tom Lyons got a copy of the report from a source in early 2015 and shredded it shortly after the articles were published to protect the source.
Mr O'Brien claims the articles, including articles headlined “22 men and €26 billion” and “The Gang of 22” wrongly meant he was among a “gang” of 22 borrowers who “wrecked the country” and that they defamed him and injured his reputation.
He also alleges malicious publication and, in that context, sought punitive damages.
The defendant denies the words meant what he alleged, denies defamation and malicious publication, and has pleaded "fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest".
The jury heard evidence from Mr O’Brien, Mr Lyons and former SBP editor Ian Kehoe during the hearing and have been given nine questions to consider.
