The High Court adjourned The Irish Times Limited’s application for financial records from the company operating the Swan Bar, in a defamation action over a 2016 newspaper article. The court did not decide whether the records must be disclosed, leaving the application to be re-entered if necessary after the parties take steps to clarify the claim.
The action was brought by Sean Lynch, Ronan Lynch and The Swan Bar Limited, trading as The Swan Bar. They seek damages and other relief over an article published on 7 September 2016. Their pleadings say its headline described the bar as “former” and “rundown” and that the accompanying photograph showed premises not owned by them. They allege the article conveyed that their premises were dilapidated and that alcohol was being served without the relevant licence.
The Irish Times admitted publishing the article but pleaded that a mistake had been made. It denied that the publication was false and malicious or had harmed the plaintiffs’ reputations. It also pleaded that the bar continued to trade.
The newspaper applied for notes, correspondence, records and accounts relating to the third plaintiff’s turnover and business, covering three years before the publication and the period afterwards up to the motion. It said the documents could help establish whether the company suffered financial damage and save time, costs and witness evidence at trial.
The plaintiffs said they sought general damages for reputational harm and had not claimed financial loss or special damages. The judge noted, however, that their submissions indicated they might offer evidence about the article’s impact on the company’s business reputation, including possible effects on turnover or customers.
Mr Justice MacGrath said that, on the pleadings as they stood, the newspaper was not entitled to discovery concerning a loss issue that had not been pleaded or particularised. He distinguished an earlier case in which discovery had been ordered where plaintiffs proposed to rely on lost clients and a comparative fall in income and turnover. He also noted that a company can suffer injury to its general reputation without proving actual financial damage.
The judge did not decide whether particulars should be provided or whether company records might be readily available through a Companies Registration Office search. Exercising the court’s discretion under Order 31, rule 12, he adjourned the discovery motion so the parties could take steps to clarify the extent of the claim. The motion could be re-entered if necessary.