Lawyer awarded damages after 'liar' smear campaign

Reporter

Saturday 4 August 2012

A SOLICITOR has been awarded £15,000 in damages after being subjected to a smear campaign that falsely claimed he was a malicious liar.

distress: Borders solicitor and estate agent Ronald Hastings.

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VICTORIA WELDON

Ronald Hastings, 53, was awarded the sum, plus expenses, after a man involved in one of his cases handed out about 100 fliers in the town where he worked, claiming he knowingly supplied false information to the court.

The lawyer, who runs his own estate agents and law firm, Hastings & Co, in Kelso in the Scottish Borders, told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that the claims damaged his reputation and forced him to take time off work due to stress.He also claimed he became demotivated and developed family problems.Court documents submitted on behalf of Mr Hastings said: "The Pursuer has suffered injury to his feelings, standing and professional reputation as a result of the distribution by the defender of the false and defamatory statements."The statements caused and continue to cause distress. The pursuer's estate agency business is well know in the Scottish Borders. The Pursuer's name is that of the business. His reputation is important to the business."The dispute between Mr Hastings and the man – who cannot be named for legal reasons –began when the solicitor was instructed to compile a report in a divorce case at Jedburgh Sheriff Court.It involved him reporting on the circumstances of the grandchildren of the man involved.The grandfather was unhappy with the report as it contained certain claims against him and his contact with the children, which were later found to be inaccurate.He then began posting leaflets to homes and businesses in Kelso, rubbishing Mr Hastings's name.The fliers stated: "WARNING! Ron Hastings, solicitor and estate agent, IS A LIAR. When acting as a court reporter, he knowingly supplied false, and in my opinion MALICIOUS information to a Sherriff's [sic] Court Report, that was put into the public domain."Under Scottish Law, this is a very serious offence, yet the Legal System has done NOTHING about it. WHY?"IS THIS SCOTTISH JUSTICE? SHAME ON YOU Mr Hastings!"WHAT PART OF THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?"The defender restated his case in court, claiming that the solicitor had deliberately included false information about him in the report.However, Judge Lord Matthews accepted that it was an "innocent error", which was later flagged up to the court, and awarded in favour of Mr Hastings.In a written judgment on the case, Lord Matthews said: "I am unable to find it proved that the pursuer told a deliberate lie."In the first place there is simply no reason for him to have done so. He had, on the evidence which I accept, never met the defender before." The judge added: "The sting in the handbills is that the pursuer maliciously lied to the court in the course of carrying out his duty as a court reporter. The defender has failed to prove that is true and accordingly I find for the pursuer."Mr Hastings asked the court to award £150,000 in damages, but Lord Matthews deemed that he was only entitled to £15,000. The judge also granted a perpetual court order banning the grandfather from making any further claims against Mr Hastings.He said: "The contents of the handbill are, in my opinion, vitriolic. It seems to me to be quite probable that if the defender is not prevented from doing so, he will continue to wage a campaign of sorts against the pursuer and accordingly I am prepared to pronounce a perpetual interdict."Mr Hastings did not respond to calls from The Herald.

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Lawyer awarded damages after 'liar' smear campaign

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