Courts / Tipperary / Report

Judgement reserved in action over Coolmore Stud book

Summary

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgement on William Jones' appeal against the High Court's refusal to grant injunctions that would have stopped Coolmore Stud's lawyers from warning book distributors and retailers that his book, "The Dark Horse: Inside Coolmore", contained defamatory material. Jones, who worked at Coolmore from 2006 to 2015 and published the book through his own company, Gold Rush Publications, argues that the High Court's decision infringes his freedom of expression and is biased. Coolmore's lawyers, Arthur Cox, had warned Amazon and other bookshops that the book included allegations of bullying and the deaths of two horses, Mountjeu and Jude, and that distributors had withdrawn the book. Coolmore also cited a 2014 agreement that both parties would not make derogatory remarks about each other and that Jones would not disclose records. The High Court found that Coolmore had made this agreement clear to Jones before publication and that any defamatory content would expose distributors to liability.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Judgement reserved in action over Coolmore Stud book. Procedural stage: appeal

When:

• June 2016 Hearing Or Sentence
• December 2014 Other
• 2006 and 2015 Other
• 2017-03-28 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Appeal

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Read the original CNI report