Court dismisses a lawsuit by the company demanding UAH 750,000 from Volyn Online editor
The Horikhiv district court of the Volyn oblast dismissed the statement of claim by the "Technotorg" LLC against the "Volyn Online" chief editor, Maryana Metelska, who investigate the work of the enterprises.
The ruling was issued on August 28, reports Maryana Metelska, the IMI representative in the Volyn oblast.
The statement of claim demanding that the information released in Metelska's investigation be declared unreliable and defamatory that the journalist pays moral redress to the companies was filed on August 21, 2023.
The court ruled to leave the statement motionless, as it does not meet the requirements of Art. 175–177 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine (rules for filing a claim). In the statement of claim, the "Technotorg" epresentative did not list Maryana Metelska's taxpayer code and the EDRPOU code of an individual entrepreneur, as well as the full addresses of her place of stay and place of residence.
Furthermore, a statement of claim must cite the person against whom the claim is being filed and the specific demands to a specific defendant, the grounds for the claim, i.e. the material legal basis (article of the law), and evidence verifying each point of the grounds.
Therefore, the court granted the representative of the plaintiff 10 days to address the deficiencies. If "Technotorg" fails to do that, the court will not consider the application.
As IMI reported, five "Technotorg" companies are suing Maryana Metelska, seeking the information to be declared unreliable and defamatory. The plaintiffs demand that Metelska disavow it and pay UAH 750,000 in moral damages.
The companies' lawsuit was triggered by the investigation titled "'Leftover' Russian spare details available for sale: a company affiliated with the aggressor operates near Lutsk." Metelska's investigation touched on "Technotorg's" cooperation with Russia and Belarus.
Maya Holub, Kateryna Dyachuk
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