Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial is facing the possibility of defending another defamation lawsuit from Youth Development and National Service Minister Foster Cummings.
Last Wednesday, Cummings’ lawyers Farai Hove-Masaisai and Jennifer Farah-Tull issued a pre-action protocol letter to Lutchmedial, the Trinidad Express newspaper, its editor-in-chief Omatie Lyder and journalist Anna Ramdass, over comments Lutchmedial made over a leaked Special Branch report during a United National Congress (UNC) meeting in San Fernando on May 5.
Cummings’ lawyers filed the lawsuit two days later after none of the parties responded to the legal threat by the deadline they had set.
In correspondence sent to Lutchmedial on Wednesday, Farah-Tull threatened another lawsuit over comments allegedly made by her during a UNC Virtual Report on Monday.
Farah-Tull stated that Lutchmedial referred to several documents, including a source of funds declaration form, two letters of awards and a cheque which all referenced Cummings.
“This information which you received was private and confidential information of our client and was subsequently disseminated publicly by yourself with no concern for how a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities would feel if placed in the same position of our client,” she said.
Farah-Tull claimed that Lutchmedial failed to validate with Cummings the content or authenticity of the documents and speculated based on the documents to “encourage scandal and odium”.
“You, specifically being an experienced attorney-at-law with some experience working for the Financial Intelligence Unit, ought reasonably to have known that such personal information disclosed to you by an unknown person is to be regarded as private and confidential and ought not to have been published within the public domain and left there for public consumption,” she said.
Farah-Tull suggested that Cummings had a reasonable expectation that the documents would have remained private and suggested that her actions had become “outrageous and dangerous,” considering the fact that Cummings had already initiated legal action over previous comments.
“Our client has since suffered loss and damage by the misuse of his private information. He and his family members’ lives have been placed at significant risk and has caused them much fear and anxiety,” she said.
In the letter, Farah-Tull called on Lutchmedial to remove the publications from her social media accounts and requested a public retraction. She also requested that Lutchmedial propose reasonable compensation for defamation.
She also called on Lutchmedial to disclose any other confidential documents belonging to Cummings that she may have in her possession.
Lutchmedial was given until 1 pm yesterday to respond before Cummings’ lawyers filed the second lawsuit.
Contacted yesterday, Lutchmedial rejected the legal threat much as she did with the first.
“I remain undeterred and unbothered by the attempts to silence me,” Lutchmedial said.
She also questioned the request to disclose all material in her possession concerning Cummings.
“It is comical that the Minister’s lawyers are asking me to disclose any other information I have about their client. Are they worried?” she said.
Since the report was leaked, Cummings has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to allegations of corruption and land grabbing contained in it.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has refused to take any action in relation to the report, as he claimed the Opposition was using it for political advantage whilst knowing that the information contained within it was unsubstantiated.
Cummings is also being represented by Christopher George.