Ladies and gentlemen, it could be one for the record books! The Mail & Guardian reports that the Gupta family is suing the newspaper for R500 million, in what may well be the largest media defamation suit in the history of South Africa. According to the M&G, “The case relates to an article published in the M&G in March this year, which ran in print with the headline “R10bn contract behind the dogfight at national carrier.” The story made reference to a Sunday Times exposé, which alleged that Rajesh “Tony” Gupta tried to “bribe” a senior official at South African Airways (SAA).”

The Gupta’s allege that the M&G was defamatory “in general”, and happen to be suing the Sunday Times for the same amount of cash.

The sheer size of the suit is one of the reasons why this thing probably won’t even go to court.

This, from the M&G’s own report:

Experts say this could be the biggest amount sought in a media defamation suit, although this is difficult to determine because cases with “unrealistic” amounts such as this one hardly ever reach court. And when they do, the amount sought in damages is usually reduced drastically.

An expert in media law, who asked not to be named as he is involved in a similar case at the moment, said the highest defamation suit he has dealt with asked for R200-million. He said this case has also not reached court.

He said examples of defamation cases that compared to this one in terms of numbers – reaching into the millions – were few and far between. As an example, he cited President Jacob Zuma’s 14 lawsuits against the media, which eventually totalled R60-million.

Read the rest of it, and the Gupta’s full complaint here.

[Source : Mail & Guardian]