There are two interesting defamation cases going on at the moment.
One involves Kitty Holland, the Irish Times journalist, suing John Waters for comments he made about her coverage of the Savita Halappanavar case where Savita lost her life in University Hospital Galway.
The other case is Enoch Burke’s case against the Sunday Independent over a report in their newspaper when Burke was first jailed in Mountjoy prison. The Sunday Independent published a retraction and apology sometime later but Burke claims his good name and reputation were damaged.
One of the most interesting things, I believe however, about these cases is the choice of venue.
Kitty Holland’s team chose the Circuit Court, Enoch Burke chose the High Court.
You can surmise yourself and draw your own inferences as to the reasons for these choices.
But it is easy to overlook the choice of venue when you are reading your newspaper or online media coverage of both cases at the same time.
Learn more about defamation law in Ireland.