7 News Belize

King Takes Sulph To Court For Facebook Beef
posted (October 30, 2018)
5 and a half months ago, we told you about the lawsuit which Mark King, a former UDP Minister, brought against Moses Sulph, the grassroots activist from Belize City.

Sulph is well known for his outspoken stances against the government of the day, but King accused him of going too far earlier this year, with a Facebook post.

King is the owner of several companies in Belize, and one of them is the security company, Brints, which currently has a contract to provide security for the Magistrate's Court. King alleges in his lawsuit that Sulph unfairly slandered him when Sulph posted that King and his company were taking advantage of several of his employees. In Sulph's post, he noted that these aggrieved employees did not get salaries promised to them for overtime and extra duties of work.

King refused to let that one go, and following Sulph's refusal to apologize and settle the case out of court, he pressed his lawsuit before Justice Sonya Young. The case was called up for hearing today where Sulph was supposed to call these aggrieved, former employees to come to the court and convince the judge that his allegations were based in fact. He was supposed to call 8 witnesses, but only 4 of them showed up.

From the perspective of King and his legal team, those 4 witnesses who Sulph called did not help his case, and when the hearing was done, we got a chance to speak with them outside of court. Here's what they told us about today's proceedings:

Payal Ghanwani - Attorney for Mark King
"Today was set for trial of the matter and the defendants had indicated to the court and they had actually filed the 8 witness statements. However only 4 of his witnesses showed up and they decided to close their case with those 4 witnesses. Certain allegations were made by Mr. Sulph on Facebook both against Mr. King and his company Brints Security and it is our position that those allegations that Mr. Sulph posted on Facebook were in fact untrue and so that is why we are here in court to seek damages for the falsehood of those statements."

Reporter
"I know this is fairly new ground. We are used to people bringing defamation or liable suits for what's printed or broadcast on media, but how does it work with social media where Facebook doesn't have a server in Belize? How can you authenticate indeed those were postings of Mr. Sulph?"

Payal Ghanwani - Attorney for Mark King
"In this case Mr. Sulph has admitted that he did in fact post the comments on his page and usually it's a presumption that if it's on your page, you posted it."

Reporter
"Is this a test case in some regard? I'm aware of cases that have been settled where people have made complaints about Facebook but is this taking it to trial sort of a test case in terms of the limits of what you can post on Facebook because a lot of people feel that it's because it's in cyberspace of the internet that it's not grounded as are the rules of publication or a broadcast?"

Payal Ghanwani - Attorney for Mark King
"Whether it's Facebook, whether it's any social media, wherever you post it. You shouldn't post defamatory statements whether it's social media or whether it's in a newspaper so it's not really a test case. The mere fact is that certain defamatory statements have been published about our clients."

Reporter
"Do you expect that you will be vindicated ultimately?"

Mark King - Claimant
"Not necessarily, that would be the judges' call to make. However, I remain that we are humble in this case. We just asked them to refrain from using my name since the company is one on its own and my name is political and I'm trying to keep that."

Sulph and Saldivar declined comment.

The two sides will file written submissions on the case in 2 weeks, and after that, Justice Young will reserve her judgment to a date to be announced.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize