Court grants injunction restraining Bounty Killer from defamatory publications about Mr Vegas

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted an injunction restraining dancehall artiste Bounty Killer from publishing defamatory material about fellow entertainer Mr Vegas pending the outcome of an ongoing defamation lawsuit between the two men.

The order was made during a hearing in the Supreme Court in relation to an application for court orders brought by Mr Vegas, whose given name is Clifford Smith, against Bounty Killer, whose given name is Rodney Price.

The court granted an order sought in the application, restraining Price “until the conclusion of the trial, from referring to the claimant, whether by name, photograph or description, in connection with any statement which might negatively affect the claimant’s reputation”.

However, the court did not grant all the relief sought by Smith’s legal team.

Attorney Alexander Shaw, who represents Smith, described the ruling as an important balance between reputation and free expression.

“We welcome the ruling as a delicate balance in preserving Mr Smith’s reputation while balancing citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of speech. The right to free speech is not a right to defame,” Shaw told The Gleaner following the hearing.

His attorneys, Christopher Townsend and Kaysian Kennedy-Sherman of TWP Attorneys-at-Law, also characterised the ruling as balanced, while emphasising that broader restrictions requested by Smith were refused.

In a statement posted on social media, the firm said the Supreme Court “declined to grant the principal orders sought by the claimant, including requests to impose broad restrictions on the defendant’s speech concerning the claimant”.

“Instead, [the court] granted a limited injunction restraining future defamatory publications pending the determination of the substantive matter,” the attorneys said.

Price has denied the allegations of defamation.

“We plan to raise our formidable defence to these allegations,” Townsend said.

However, he also signalled that there is a “larger picture” that the two entertainers have to consider as the case moves to the filing of Rodney’s defence, followed by mediation and a possible trial if talks are not successful.

“These are entertainers in a small field here in Jamaica. Yes, they're also big on the world stage. But we're coming from a small island, and we're demonstrating how magnanimous we are in terms of shaping the area of music and this particular genre,” he said, noting that it’s his personal view.

“So, it behooves everyone to look at the larger picture and see whether or not they can meet over a table and settle their differences.”

The lawsuit stems from social media posts allegedly made or shared by Price on Instagram on or about January 8 this year.

Smith filed the lawsuit on January 14.

Smith’s lawsuit alleges that the publication damaged his reputation locally and internationally and seeks damages for defamation and negligence.

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