Ken Bates looses libel case

[Snookie]

There is a god

 

Ken Bates ordered to pay £50,000 libel damages to former Leeds director

 

Ken Bates was sued by Melvyn Levi over comments in the Leeds programme and in a letter sent to club members. Photograph: Ian Hodgson/Action Images / Reuters

 

The Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has been ordered at the High Court to pay £50,000 libel damages to a former director of the club who alleged he was "persecuted".

 

A judge in London ruled today in favour of the businessman Melvyn Levi, 65, who brought the action over comments made about him by Bates. Sir Charles Gray said the libel action arose out of events surrounding the acquisition of Leeds by a consortium headed by Bates in 2005.

 

Levi sued over three articles written by Bates in the Leeds programme in 2006 and 2007 and a letter written to club members in August 2007.

 

He claimed that they contained "grave and offensive" libels, which "seriously injured" his reputation. Bates, 78, denied libel, but the judge ruled that he had failed in his defences of justification and fair comment.

 

Levi, who lives in Leeds, said he was accused of being a "shyster" who had tried to blackmail the club over money.

 

Bates, who is based in Monaco and was not present for the judgment, faces a bill for costs believed to be around £1.5m.

 

The judge refused him permission to appeal, but he can still apply directly to the Court of Appeal in a bid to take the case further. The judge said the £50,000 damages he awarded was in respect of the three match programmes "where the defences failed".

 

Levi's claim in relation to the letter failed as Sir Charles ruled that this was covered by qualified privilege. The judge listed a number of factors he had taken into account when calculating the appropriate level of damages, including the "gravity of the libels".

 

He said the "allegation of blackmail is particularly serious"

 

source: here

[ManxRed]

I had a good old chuckle at the £50,000 bit but when I got to this bit:

 

faces a bill for costs believed to be around £1.5m

 

I almost fell of my chair with mirth.

 

Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke.

[Kvarme Ate My Food]

am I being oversensitive in seeing anti-semitic undertones in the use of the word 'shyster'?

[Knox_Harrington]

am I being oversensitive in seeing anti-semitic undertones in the use of the word 'shyster'?

No.

[John am Rhein]

am I being oversensitive in seeing anti-semitic undertones in the use of the word 'shyster'?

 

I always suspected Fergal Sharkey of anti-semitism but I struggle to see his involvement here

[StevieC]

am I being oversensitive in seeing anti-semitic undertones in the use of the word 'shyster'?

 

 

Probably.

 

It's not like the term is only ever directed at Jews.

[smithdown]

"This unpleasant and dishonourable man will not succeed in his attempt to obtain money in an unscrupulous way. … Perhaps you would like to ask Mr Levi some questions and ask him to justify his behaviour which is damaging Leeds' prospects of advancement."

 

The programme then printed Levi's home address. In court Bates was asked why he printed Levi's address, what he thought might happen. He answered that he thought Leeds fans might "write letters" to Levi.

 

What a c*nt

 

oh and with regards to anti-semitism, the programme notes clear that up nicely:

 

"Here we are working night and day to make Leeds United a creditable club once again," Bates wrote in those notes, "and we are distracted by this shyster (no, that is not anti-Semitic) trying to blackmail us into paying him money to buy him off for not honouring his obligation."

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn...ited-full-story

[Murphman]

Probably.

 

It's not like the term is only ever directed at Jews.

 

 

In the south of england it's used generally and widely to describe a dodgy untryustworthy fecker, nothing to do with Jews although obviously that's where the word originated from.

[Stevie H]

saint john's ambulance, ken.

[Molby]

Melvyn Levi is one of my business partners

 

we are involved in various projects in Liverpool

one day he came in to our office and showed me letters from Bates's solicitor that read something like

 

"stop saying our client is anti-semitic or we will sue you"

 

if Bates was not ant-semitic he certainly will be after dealing with Melvyn

he also published Melvyn's address in the program and he had to have police protection for a while as a result in case Leeds hooligans visited him

Melvyn's son showed me the unofficial Leeds website he goes on, in order to compare and contrast with the well -policed YNWA and it was full of unmoderated anti-semitic rants from their supporters

 

Bates claimed in his defence, ('forget the preceding word...something, priviledge') which basically means that calling him a shyster is ok as he IS a shyster

 

Melvyn was always going to get a smallish settlement but had he lost, the costs would have bankrupted him

shock horror - the major winners were the lawyers!

 

I expect this to act as a precedent so expect Bates to be inconvenienced further by Melvyn in the coming months over related matters at Leeds

 

I think 'shyster' has borderline anti-semitic overtones when used on someone like Melvyn

the term is quite appropriate for him in some ways tbf, but so are many others that have more or less opposite meetings

 

as for Bates - am not too fond of him

[Herbie von Smalls]

('forget the preceding word...something, priviledge')

 

I think 'shyster' has borderline anti-semitic overtones when used on someone like Melvyn

the term is quite appropriate for him in some ways tbf, but so are many others that have more or less opposite meetings

i think it's "qualified" privilege - i.e. a 'harsh, but true' kinda defence

 

i'd say bates used the term 'shyster' quite deliberately in this instance. reckon it's a fine line that he trampled over with his customary bullishness.

 

hateful c***. toss-up between him and michael o'leary for the most unpleasantly self-serving and disregarding of his 'customer base' high profile business executive

[R A Softlad]

i think it's "qualified" privilege - i.e. a 'harsh, but true' kinda defence

 

Just like starting a sentence, "I'm not being bad but..."

[Molby]

i think it's "qualified" privilege - i.e. a 'harsh, but true' kinda defence

 

i'd say bates used the term 'shyster' quite deliberately in this instance. reckon it's a fine line that he trampled over with his customary bullishness.

 

hateful c***. toss-up between him and michael o'leary for the most unpleasantly self-serving and disregarding of his 'customer base' high profile business executive

 

 

that's the one

 

I think it's actually great that there is a defence that says, "no, seriously, he IS c*** - just look at all this"

 

I could have been a witness for Bates and he'd have won the case hands down!

[DanielS]

Only problem is that Bates will take the money out of Leeds to pay for the lawyer's fees.

 

Excellent thing about all this is that Bates will take the money out of Leeds to pay for the lawyer's fees.

 

Delete as appropriate.