Royal Media Services (RMS) has been ordered to pay a family law firm in Eldoret Sh12 Million after losing a six-year court battle.
The High Court in Eldoret ordered the media house to pay for damages caused to Onyikwa & Company Advocates over a news feature exposing a cemetery scandal aired on Citizen TV in 2010.
Lady Justice Cecilia Githua stated that the defendant had aired the information implicating the law firm in the corruption scandal without caring to establish the truth through clarification.
"I award the first plaintiff Sh6 million and an additional Sh14,384 for damages which will attract current interest rates, the second and third plaintiffs are also awarded Sh3 million each as a global sum, each one with separate interests and the defendant shall bear the costs of the suit," Justice Githua stated.
70-year-old Ibrahim Onyikwa, his son Dennis Onyinkwa and daughter Everlyne Onyinkwa argued that the report portrayed them as corrupt individuals thereby tarnishing their names.
According to the court documents filed on February 1, 2011, the disputed story was about the loss of Sh59 Million in the cemetery saga and it implicated the law firm as beneficiaries of the lost money.
The report by journalist Olivia Oketch was aired on three consecutive days on March 9, 10 and 11, 2010 during prime time news and showed that the family law firm pocketed Sh4 Million in the Cemetary scandal.
Through their lawyer Morgan Omusundi, the family argued that its business was negatively affected after the media house failed to investigate and verify all the information, thereby damaged their reputation.
"The defendant also refused to apologize or correct the wrongfully aired information despite my clients making a formal demand requiring the media house to do so in a letter dated March 16, 2010," Omusundi argued.
Royal Media Services countered the complaint by stating that the information was accurate as it had been acquired from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC).
The media house asked the court to dismiss the case adding that the plaintiff hadn’t asked for a formal apology from them.
Mr Omusundi was yesterday (Wednesday) in court seeking to tabulate the cost of the suit but the matter was adjourned to July 11, 2017.
