BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
Daniel Snyder, American Billionaire and majority owner of the world-renowned Washington Football Team erstwhile Washington RedSkins of the NFL, had approached the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi against the website meaww.com, its directors and journalists, seeking compensation of Rs. 75 Crores in damages further also praying for the passing of an order granting an ad-interim injunction in favour of the Daniel Snyder whereby directing the defendants to permanently take down, remove and/ or block/restrict access to the news articles/posts/URLs/ web links mentioned in his plaint and/or other active news articles/posts//URLs/web links which contain or purport to contain, the defamatory impugned news/articles or part thereof posted on their respective websites, and also from all media in the control of the Defendants, including but not limited to meaww.com website, mobile application. The relief prayed for included defendants to forthwith block/remove the impugned news articles/channels/posts/weblinks/URLs from channels, websites, webpages, mobile application in its control and also directing the defendants to block/remove the impugned news articles/posts from its websites on receipt of any complaint in future from the Plaintiff. The ad-interim injunction was sought for restraining the Defendants or other news agencies from reporting any news with respect to the impugned news articles/posts/URLs/ WebIinks or any other news articles/posts/URLs/Weblinks containing the same or similar subject matter. The Plaintiff also prayed in his petition for also seeking directions against the Defendants to disclose the source from where the information forming part of the impugned news articles/posts has been procured from by the Defendants, to the Plaintiff;
CAUSE OF DISPUTE & REPORTS FROM THE WASHINGTON POST
MEA Worldwide claims to be one of the world’s fastest-growing entertainment news companies with offices in the US and India. According to their website, they bring the best content from the global streaming industry and Hollywood, through their team of talented reporters and contributors. Up-to-date news on the entertainment industry, exclusive interviews and in-depth features about the trendiest streaming shows, box office hits and stars, to sleeper winners that you really have to follow. Meaw Worldwide is located at Eleven Internet Services LLP.
The Washington Post in its news coverage- “Washington owner Daniel Snyder sues media company over baseless stories” dated August 8, 2020, reported the following:
“Among the stories MEAWW published that Snyder found defamatory, according to the lawsuit, was one headlined “Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder faces sex trafficking allegations; Internet says, ‘He was on Epstein’s list,’ ” and another titled “#RedskinsScandal: Will Dan Snyder rename Washington Redskins the ‘Epsteins’?”According to the Washington Post further, “The lawsuit filed was in court in New Delhi, along with supporting paperwork filed in federal court in California accuses the news site, Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide, of publishing defamatory stories based solely on rumours spread on social media. The lawsuit also suggests the site, owned by an Indian company, had been paid by unidentified sources to publish these stories.”
The present suit has been filed by Daniel Snyder in respect of the publishing of the defamatory and malicious publications levelling serious allegations against the plaintiff insinuating the plaintiff to the extent that he is facing allegations of sex trafficking and is associated with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
The Washington Post also mentions that Mr Snyder had already approached the federal courts in the US, seeking discovery against the media website, which claims to have more than 250 million subscribers across the globe. It was averred in the suit filed before the Hon’ble High Court that the contents of the impugned articles were procured without any verification and/or confirmation and the sole agenda of the Defendants before the Hon’ble High Court, behind uploading such posts was to reap undue benefits and illegal gains inasmuch as Mr Snyder had alleged that the website accepts payments in lieu of uploading such scandalous posts. According to submissions before Delhi High Court, plaintiff asserts that said news articles are false, frivolous and baseless and the said news articles are freely available in the public domain thereby causing repercussion on the reputation of the plaintiff and had lowered the image of the plaintiff in the eyes of public.”
According to the plaintiff, e-mail to defendants to take down the impugned URL has not been complied with and they have also not supplied the basic subscription details of the person who is uploading the posts. The concern of Daniel Snyder was still on as the impugned posts were still available upon a basic search on Bing.com as well as on the website of defendant No.2. Three URL’s/weblinks were provided by the plaintiff, they are all of meaww.com which the defendant Nos.1 to 6 claims to be their website and the plaintiff asserts that even on this date of the matter being heard the weblinks are available, thus leading to continued defamation of the Plaintiff across the globe.
THE RELIEF OF INJUNCTION GRANTED
After hearing arguments at length, Learned Judge Mukta Gupta was pleased to pass an ad-interim order in favour of the Plaintiff, whereby directing the Defendants to take-down the impugned articles from the internet in their entirety, further blocking all the impugned URL’s/weblinks, and to remove any such impugned articles in the future upon intimation by the Plaintiff.
The Hon’ble Judge further observed that by virtue of being a news reporting website, the Defendants were bound to conduct investigations before uploading articles and as such they had prima facie defamed the Plaintiff and that the balance of convenience lay in favour of the Plaintiff.
The Learned counsel for defendants led by Sr. Advocate S.D Sanjay in the matter stated that the reliefs prayed in prayer (ii) regarding blocking of the news articles and (v) regarding disclosing sources of information forming part of the news have already been satisfied, which fact is denied by the for the plaintiff. He further states that the reliefs sought in prayers (iii) and (iv) are in the nature of anticipated actions and hence no relief of this nature can be granted as an ad interim measure in terms of prayers (iii) and (iv).
After hearing both the sides, Ld Judge passed the following order:
“The plaintiff has made out a prima facie case against the defendants and if no ad interim injunction is granted, the plaintiff would suffer an irreparable loss. The balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiff. Consequently, till the next date of hearing, an ad-interim injunction in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant Nos.1 to 6 is granted in terms of prayers (i) to (iv) of Para 29 of the application. Defendant Nos.1 to 6 are also directed to disclose the basic subscription information in respect of the person/persons who had uploaded the impugned news articles/posts at the platform of the defendants.”
Mr Dayan Krishnan, Ld. Senior Counsel; Mr Simranjeet Singh, Partner-Athena Legal,; Mr. Aadhar Nautiyal, Associate-Athena Legal along with Mr Sanjeevi Seshadri, Advocate represented the Plaintiff in Mr Daniel Snyder matter. The matter is still pending for hearing on 2nd November 2020.
Image Courtesy: NBC Sport
Add Comment