SINN Fein has not appealed a unanimous jury verdict that the party maliciously defamed a former director of Northern Ireland Water.
After losing the High Court action – which centred on two press releases issued by the party in the names of MLA Cathal Boylan and former MLA Willie Clarke – in December, the party said that it was examining the possibility of an appeal.
However, appeals have to be submitted within six weeks of a civil trial ending. Yesterday, almost seven weeks after the case ended, the Courts Service confirmed to the News Letter that no appeal had been lodged by Sinn Fein.
In rare cases – and only with the permission of a judge – an appeal can be submitted ‘out of time’, if there are compelling reasons for the delay.
In December a jury conclusively found in favour of Mr Gormley and Mr Justice Gillen then dismissed the party’s plea of ‘qualified privilege’ and the ‘Reynolds defence’ which claimed that the defamatory press releases should be afforded the same legal protection as the work of responsible journalists.
The jury awarded Mr Gormley £80,000, a very significant payout, after taking just half-an-hour to decide on the level of compensation.
The judge ruled that all of the costs of the trial – which had just entered a fourth week – should be borne by Sinn Fein. The party faces a total bill estimated to be in the region of £400,000.
The News Letter asked Sinn Fein why it had not appealed the case and whether it would apologise to Mr Gormley, but it had not responded at the time of going to press.
Yesterday Mr Gormley said: “I’m obviously pleased that I can now draw a line under this matter which has occupied quite an amount of my time over the last two years.”
And referring to a separate legal action against former Sinn Fein minister Conor Murphy, the Department of Regional Development and others, he said: “It now allows me to deal with the last remaining issue in regard to the other legal case which is still outstanding and I would be hopeful that this too can now be concluded satisfactorily without the need to go to court.
“At this stage I remain committed to my previous position – that compensation is not the purpose of this legal action; it is simply to have acknowledged that I was guilty of no wrongdoing in my role as a non-executive director of NI Water and therefore the decision to remove me from the board was wrong and should not have happened.
“If I can reach agreement on this basis and receive an apology I am happy to consider that this matter has been concluded satisfactorily and has achieved my aim: to have my name and reputation totally vindicated.”
UUP DRD minister Danny Kennedy has repeatedly declined to comment on that case – which his department is defending with public money – because it is ongoing.