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‘Melly Mel’ ordered to pay Balwant Singh Hospital $35M for defamation
Social media activist, Melissa Atwell known as “Melly Mel”
Kaieteur News – Social media activist, Melissa Atwell known as “Melly Mel” has been ordered to pay the sum of $35 million to Dr Mahdu Singh and Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc. for defamatory statements she published back in June 2019.
The judgment was handed down on September 3 by high court judge, Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln. The judge ruled in favour of the claimants awarding damages of $15 million to the hospital and $20 million to Dr. Singh.
Atwell was also ordered to pay the claimants’ prescribed costs of $3,150,000 and to remove all the defamatory statements she made on her Facebook account.
According to the court document seen by this publication, Atwell posted a 33-part story on her Facebook page between June 9th to June 16th 2019, which contained defamatory statements about Dr Singh and the hospital.
Dr. Singh is a medical doctor specialising in obstetrics and gynecology and is a director, shareholder, consultant and the chief executive officer of the medical institution.
Dr. Singh’s evidence is that to date neither she nor the hospital has been subject to any findings of malpractice, negligence or to any disciplinary action by the medical council.
Dr. Mahdu Singh
The defamatory publications were allegedly statements by third parties which Atwell published on her Facebook page. In relation to Dr. Singh, the defamatory statements impute professional malpractice and improper and negligent medical advice and treatment which in some cases endangered the lives and well-being of some patients and in other cases was designed to inflate costs.
In relation to the hospital, the defamatory statements impute improper health care practices, medical negligence and malpractice including deliberate misdiagnosis for financial gain, engaging incompetent professionals and improper billing practices. It was noted that the post made by Atwell are a very serious form of libel, as it impacts the professional reputation of the claimants.
At the end of the trial, the court was satisfied that the statements were published based on all the circumstances, the evidence of Dr. Singh, the content of several of the defamatory statements and the comments which followed the posts. However, it was noted that it was difficult to measure the size and reach of the defamatory Facebook publications.
Notably, Senior Counsels Robin Stoby and Stephen Fraser, along with attorney-at-law Shantel Scott-Lall represented the claimants, while attorneys-at-law Sanjeev Datadin, Donovan Rangiah, Anessa Chow and Mohanie Anagnaoo represented Atwell.
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- Balwant Singh Hospital, defamation, Dr. Mahdu Singh, Melissa Atwell, Melly Mel, Social media activist
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