A MAN whose legal action against a midwife over interrupting his filming of the birth of his child by emergency Caesarean section was previously dismissed is suing a journalist and a newspaper over an article published in the wake of that action.
The Sunday Times article had made John McAuley look like “an idiot”, it was submitted before the High Court yesterday.
Mr McAuley claims he was defamed in the article written by Brenda Power and published by the Sunday Times in March 2009 shortly after the dismissal of his Circuit Court claim for breach of contract against a midwife and the hospital where his daughter was born. He claims Ms Power’s article meant, among other meanings, that he showed no consideration or care for his partner Jurgita Jachimaviciute, that he was insensitive, had little or no concern for their newborn baby, was motivated by selfish self-interest and had continued filming when the baby had failed to breathe.
In a pre-trial application yesterday, lawyers for the defendants asked the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, to dismiss the case on grounds including the article was not defamatory, did not contain the alleged meanings, it was justified and involved fair comment on a matter of public interest.
Mr McAuley’s action, they argued, had no reasonable prospect of success and should not be permitted to go before a jury.
Dermot Gleeson SC, for the defendants, said the article was written following court reports of Mr McAuley’s failed action against the hospital and the midwife.
Mr Gleeson said that while midwives often received gifts or acknowledgments from parents of newborns, the midwife in this instance received a civil summons from Mr McAuley after she interrupted him filming during what a Circuit Court judge described as a medical emergency.
Any embarrassment was brought about by his bringing the action against the midwife and the hospital, which brought the matter into the public domain and “had nothing to do with Ms Power or the Sunday Times”.
Peter Nolan, for Mr McAuley, said his client had a constitutional right to protect his good name. The case should not be dismissed but should be allowed to go before a jury to decide the matter.
Mr Nolan said what was published about him in the Sunday Times article had nothing to do with the Circuit Court case.
In her article, Ms Power had made Mr McAuley look like an idiot, it was submitted. The journalist had shown an agenda of gender bias, it was also argued.
Mr Justice Kearns said he was reserving judgment.
During his Circuit Court action, that court was told Mr McAuley, Celbridge, Co Kildare, had wanted to film “every precious moment” of the first minutes of his baby’s life. He had sued midwife Iris Halbach and Mount Carmel Hospital claiming €38,000 damages over the interruption of his video of the birth of his daughter Simone in September 2006.
Judge Joseph Mathews dismissed the claim after being told Ms Halbach had asked for a momentary stop in filming while she carried out emergency clearance of the baby’s airways.