The Sunday Worldyesterday lost a High Court application to compel a Ukrainian woman, who is suing the newspaper for libel over a report of a car crash in Moscow which resulted in the death of former Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor, to lodge a sum of €30,000 in court as security towards legal costs if her case fails.
Julia Kushnir survived the crash in which Mr Lawlor died in October 2005. Ms Kushnir, a translator has sued a number of news organisations as a result of the reporting of the car crash. The libel action against the Sunday Worldwill begin in the High Court on February 21st.
Ms Kushnir claims she was libelled when it was wrongly suggested that Mr Lawlor was in the company of a teenage prostitute at the time of the accident. She is to travel to Ireland for the hearing, along with character witnesses from Tel Aviv, New York and Moscow. Mr Justice Michael Hanna, turning down the Sunday World's security for costs application yesterday, said it was "breathtaking" that the newspaper should wait until now to make the application when it could have been made months ago.
John Gordon SC, in applying for the security of costs order, said the article did not name Ms Kushnir and the story had not appeared in all editions of the Sunday World. The Dublin edition was not sold abroad and the edition could only be read by somebody in Ireland that day.
The newspaper's solicitors had written to Ms Kushnir's side on January 18th last seeking security for costs in the event she does not succeed in her action. Mr Gordon said the reponse was "an extraordinary letter" in which Ms Kushnir's side asked if the newspaper side had been "spying" after making a statement - in the newspaper's earlier letter to the Kushnir side - that the translator has no assets within the EU.
Counsel said the full costs of the Kushnir case would be in the region of €90,000, allowing for a three-day trial. Ms Kushnir is not an EU citizen though she has lived in Prague for the last 15 years and the mere fact of her being a resident of Prague, did not exempt her from having to provide security, he said.
Ms Kushnir, for reasons of her own, had chosen not to give the court information that might be of assistance, Mr Gordon also said.
Counsel for Ms Kushnir, Paul O'Higgins SC, said Mr Gordon had cast the case as if Ms Kushnir, in some arrogant fashion, had failed to answer questions. Mr O'Higgins said a question was never asked about assets and this application had been made when all the costs in the case had been incurred. It would be inappropriate to grant the order, he said.