Dubai: A court has dismissed a case against a local newspaper, its editor-in-chief and senior journalist along with a medical assistant from compensating a private hospital with Dh1 million, which was being claimed against defamation.
Dubai Civil Court decided that the English newspaper, it's editor-in-chief and senior journalist didn't defame the hospital in the article which discussed the medical assistant's resignation.
In its civil lawsuit, the hospital claimed Dh1 million in financial and moral compensation for the damages it said it accrued after the story was published.
"The story claimed that the hospital kept hold of the assistant's passport to prevent him from moving to a new job with a better pay and to make him to settle his dues. The newspaper ran the assistant's name in full plus his picture besides mentioning that the assistant was being annoyed and that his country's consulate intervened in the issue. The story damaged the hospital's reputation," the claimant said in its lawsuit.
Dr Habib Al Mulla, of Habib Al Mulla and Co Advocates and Legal Consultants, the defendants' lawyer, said in his defence: "My clients did not commit any wrong .... The newspaper dropped from the article the name of the hospital which was also given space to comment on the medical assistant's issue."
The court ordered the claimant to pay Dh1,000 in lawyers' fees besides court fees. The hospital has appealed the initial verdict.
