Claire Wilson
LENOX NAPIER has been found guilty of defaming Euro Weekly News owners Steven and Michel Euesden.
Blogger Napier, former owner of Euro Weekly News predecessor The Entertainer, was convicted of severe criminal defamation by an Almeria court.
He was said to have sullied the name of the Euesdens in a series of online articles, blogs, and expat forums.
Michel said: “We see this as a victory for everyone who has suffered from online abuse and bullying.
“Napier’s loss has proved that lies are lies wherever they are published. The internet is no hiding place for people to spout defamatory comments and get away with it.”
The case was heard at the end of January.
Napier told the court he had been ‘cheated’ by the Euesdens, after they failed to pay money they owed him at the end of a three year buyout process of the paper, The Entertainer.
He said the pair illegally rebranded the paper as the Euro Weekly News, but continued the edition numbers where the entertainer broke off.
Michel Euesden told the court Napier had defamed her, her husband and their business in a series of online articles.
Steven Euesden said Napier had defrauded them to the tune of 53 million pesetas, after trying to sell them a newspaper that he didn’t in fact own.
Sentencing to follow.
While the Euesdens have won their case for defamation through a series of on line articles it is questionable whether they have suffered damages.
Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me.
Hurt feelings through defamation are difficult to quantify in monetary terms.
It shall be interesting to see if they are awarded damages for their so-called pain and suffering.
Having said that the fact remains the circumstances surrounding their acquisition of The Entertainer are highly suspicious.
No lies, according to the judgement. Just insults.
There is no question Lenox Napier’s published attacks on the Euesdens were over the top but with just cause and legally sufficient reason.
The paltry sum awarded by the court is merely a token acknowledgement that the Euesdens were defamed.
Their gloating that they scored some kind of milestone judicial victory is unseemly and transparently phony.
I wonder how many of their admirers were around in 1999, I was and am quite aware of the circumstances surrounding their acquisition of The Entertainer.
There are several different forms of theft; larceny is what most people think of as theft i.e. taking property that is not yours. Obtaining property by false pretenses is a form of theft that involves trickery or fraud.
Lenox Napier was rightly ordered to cease and desist with his personal attacks on the Euesdens in The Entertainer Online.
But he was not asked to remove “The Entertainer Online” masthead, which reads to this day.
“This site, started in September 2002, is called The Entertainer Online to continue The Entertainer name, the name of a weekly newspaper started by me in 1985 which ran without interruption throughout southern Spain until 1999 when a three year option to buy was taken by staffers. They never concluded the deal, or paid me, but changed the name when the option expired in April 2002 instead.”
In my view the above effectively means the Euesdens stole The Entertainer.
I thank the Olive Press for recognizing there are always two sides to every story!
And irrespective of which side of the fence you are the truth will out.
A glance at the Eusedens web page clearly shows their reputation suffered no damage whatsoever through any fault of Lenox Napier. The pittance awarded for defamation confirms this.
J A F O, how much have they been awarded? Was this also not a criminal offence for which Napier could serve a custodial sentence?
Morris,
Apparently they were awarded 1,800 Euros, some of the more serious charges were dropped.
My last post above was severely edited and the juicy stuff on the Euesdens deleted.
BTW defamation can be a criminal offense but I doubt what we are talking about here rises to the level of a criminal offense despite the Eusedens labeling it as such.
This article is four years old. Now, forty eight months later, I’m still skint and still in the right.