The Lord Chief Justice believes that the damages Modi was ordered to pay were fair
Former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi has lost his appeal against the amount of damages he had to pay ex-New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns in a libel case in March.
Modi was ordered to pay Cairns £90,000 ($142,000), along with other costs totalling in excess of £1 million ($1.6m) after tweeting derogatory messages on his Twitter account.
The Lord Chief Justice threw the case out and stated that the amount Modi was ordered to pay Cairns is “proportionate to the seriousness of the allegation”.
A statement released by the Court of Appeal said: “We reject the criticisms of the judge’s reasoning or of the total award based on a starting point of £75,000 with the £15,000 uplift directly linked to the conduct of the hearing. In our judgment they were proportionate to the seriousness of the allegation and its direct impact on Mr Cairns himself and will serve to vindicate his reputation. The appeal is accordingly dismissed.”