Rousillac man to pay $300K for defaming public health inspector
A man from Rousillac has been ordered to pay almost $300,000 in compensation to a public health inspector for defaming him in a series of social media posts. High Court Judge Jacqueline Wilson, KC, ordered the compensation last Wednesday as she upheld a lawsuit brought by acting public health inspector II O’Neal Ali against Mohan Chatoor.
The lawsuit stemmed from 16 posts made by Chatoor on his Facebook account between August and September 2023. The posts came after Ali and his colleagues performed a site visit at a parcel of land owned by Chatoor, which he (Chatoor) was seeking approval to subdivide for residential purposes. In posts, Chatoor accused Ali and his colleagues of bribery, corruption, and misconduct in processing his application. The post included a video clip of Ali and his vehicle captured by Chatoor while Ali and his colleagues were doing the site visit.
Ali, through his lawyer Richard Jaggasar, filed the case, as he claimed that his personal and professional reputation was damaged. Although Chatoor’s account was not in his legal name, the posts were linked to him based on his voice and references to his application in the video recording. In determining the case, Justice Wilson ruled that the posts were clearly defamatory.