England
March 2012
Former New Zealand cricketer, Chris Cairns was awarded by the High Court £90,000 in damages for a libelous 24 word tweet. It therefore cost Lalit Modi, an ex-Indian Premier League commissioner, £3,750 for every word he tweeted!
The Judge did not deem it a material factor that the tweet was only probably received by 65 followers. He stated that although the audience was limited, it did not mean that damages should be reduced because of this.
The tweet made by Modi claimed that Cairns was involved in match fixing which Cairns said could seriously damage the good reputation he has built up over the past 20 years. He added that although it was not as serious as previous allegations it was still highly damaging for his reputation.
Related Articles:
- Lalit Modi loses appeal against £90,000 libel award to Chris Cairns (guardian.co.uk)
- Cairns libel award appeal fails (3news.co.nz)
- First Malaysian sued over defamatory tweets (internetdefamation.co.uk)
