International news broadcaster CNN has claimed that Galway-based businessman Declan Ganley’s High Court defamation suit has no connection to Ireland and should be heard in the US.
Atlanta-registered CNN reports that the Trump administration is pressuring U.S. officials to award Ganley’s telecommunications company Rivada a multibillion-dollar contract to build a 5G communications network for the Pentagon without competitive bidding. A lawsuit has been filed over reports suggesting that
Two related companies, Cable News International (CNI) Ltd and Turner Broadcasting System Europe Ltd, both registered in London, are also being sued.
Mr Ganley and Rivada Networks Ltd allege they were “maliciously” defamed in a broadcast and online publication on October 20, 2020.
They claim that they competitively and openly requested information about the 5G project, but argue that CNN’s reporting falsely implies that they initiated a fraudulent process to win the contract. There is.
Defendants deny the allegations.
On Tuesday, the defendants asked Judge Garrett Simons to dismiss the proceedings against CNI and Turner. The reason for this is that there is no evidence to suggest that these two companies were involved in this case.
The defendant’s solicitor, Eoin McCullough SC, said that while there were grounds of action against CNN, it suffered from the difficulty that the issues involved were irrelevant to this jurisdiction.
It has little to do with Ireland.
“We argue that it has little to do with Ireland,” the lawyer said. He said it concerned the Rivada company in the United States and that all of the events described in the allegedly defamatory publication took place in the United States.
CNN, the only party to be named as a defendant, acknowledges that publication occurred in Ireland, but in its defense asserts truth, qualified privilege, and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest. Yes, he said.
The subject matter pertains entirely to the United States, and if the case goes to trial, virtually all of the defendant’s witnesses would be in the United States, he said.
Ganley is an Irish citizen and lives in Ireland, but his lawyers say he has a considerable reputation in the United States because of his believed to have close ties to the American Rivada company, of which he is chief executive. Stated.
The court also heard that around 200 people in Ireland viewed the allegedly defamatory material, which was only about 1 per cent of the viewing audience.
Mark Harty SC, acting for Mr Ganley and Mr Rivada, said Turner was largely implicated in the defamation charges because he was a distributor and had permission to distribute the material in this jurisdiction. Ta. According to the lawyer, the distribution was largely part of the publication.
Although he acknowledged that the case against CNI is weaker, the court should not strike out the case against either of these two defendants, given that they have not even filed a defense.
Mr Harty rejected suggestions that Mr Ganley had engaged in “forum shopping” and taken action by choosing Ireland over the US.
This is not about the subject matter being broadcast in the United States to an American audience, but rather because CNN, based in this jurisdiction, is a multinational company that publishes information on its website and broadcast channels and that is distributed nationwide. It was about the fact that The world, said the lawyer.
The incident continues.