Robert Szustkowski, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, has called on the publisher Ringier Axel Springer Polska, to pay damages of more than PLN 50 million. This is the result of the Publisher’s failure to comply with the provisions of the bilateral Settlement Agreement and violation of Szustkowski’s good name.
– This is, to my knowledge, the highest amount of claim in Poland in a case arising from a press publisher’s violation of good name. The basis for the summons is the publisher’s delay in implementing the out-of-court settlement and the contractual penalty stipulated therein by both parties,” emphasizes Attorney Elżbieta Kosińska-Kozak of the Dubois and Partners law firm, representing Szustkowski. The settlement was reached in October 2020 after a non-final (favorable to Robert Szustkowski) court decision, and the signing of it was supposed to end the legal dispute.
CASE BACKGROUND
In 2017, Robert Szustkowski filed a lawsuit against Ringier Axel Springer Polska – the publisher of the web portals www.fakt.pl, www.onet.pl, www.newseek.pl for the protection of personal rights in connection with false information about him in materials published on the pages of the above-mentioned web portals, proving that they defamed his good name, demanding publishing an appropriate statement with apologies and paying the amount of PLN 4 million to the indicated social purpose by the publisher.
THE COURT DECISION FAVOURABLE TO SZUSTKOWSKI
On 20.10.2020, by the decision of Judge Monika Dominiak, the Districk Court in Warsaw issued a judgment upholding the plaintiff’s claims and ordering the publisher Ringier Axel Springer Polska to publish an appropriate statement with apologies for violating Robert Szustkowski’s good name, and pay an appropriate amount for a social purpose.
The Warsaw Regional Court found the information provided in press materials published on the above-mentioned Internet portals belonging to the Ringier Axel Springer publishing house to be untrue, harmful and damaging to Szustkowski’s good name and dignity concerning his so-called unclear ties with Russia, including that he was affiliated with the Russian mafia or the Russian intelligence service KGB or GRU, as well as that he did business with members of the Russian mafia or KGB or GRU. Moreover, he was alleged to have close ties with Marek Falenta – the organizer of the wiretaps in the so-called “tape affair” – and he was even supposed to be Falenta’s protector, the most important person from Falenta’s point of view in the Kuzbas’ jigsaw puzzle. Also, Szustkowski was alleged to have recommended Falenta to the Russians and to have had a connection with organizing or facilitating the organization of the so-called “tape affair”.
OFF-COURT SETTLEMENT
As a result of these very proceedings, an out-of-court settlement was concluded, the purpose of which was, among other things, to remove the consequences of the violation of personal rights and to introduce contractual guarantees to protect Szustkowski from further violations of his personal rights in the aforementioned scope. Similar agreements have been concluded with other publishers who have committed violations of their good name by publishing false information about Robert Szustkowski’s alleged shady connections with Russian special services and criminal groups.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
– My attempts to defend my personal rights are perceived by the slandering journalists and publishers as a form of censorship or a threat to freedom of speech. I would like to emphasize that I am not attacking freedom of speech. On the contrary. I defend it against those who abuse it. Freedom of speech means the right to express one’s opinions. But it does not mean the right to distort reality, manipulate facts or give untruths while expecting to face no consequences whatsoever and responsibility for one’s words. Publishers should stop unreflectively publishing materials by investigative journalists without first checking the sources and thus the truthfulness of the facts,” says Szustkowski.