Jurisdiction

AuthorInternational Law Group

Cheickh Bangoura (plaintiff) sued the Washington Post and three of its reporters Messrs. Branigin, Rupert, and Buckley (defendants) plus the United Nations and Fred Eckhard (later dropped from the case) over two newspaper articles, which he claims are defamatory. When the Post published the articles in January 1997, plaintiff was working for the United Nations in Nairobi, Kenya. The articles had to do with plaintiff's behavior in a prior position with the U.N. in the Ivory Coast.

Plaintiff was born and raised in Guinea on Africa's west coast. Between 1987 and 1993, he served with the United Nations in Austria. In September 1993, he was seconded to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP) in the Ivory Coast as assistant regional director for West Africa, where he remained until December of 1994. The U. N. then transferred him to the UNDCP in Nairobi, Kenya under a contract that was to expire at the end of January 1997. In Kenya, Mr. Bangoura was assistant regional director of the UNDCP regional office for Eastern and Southern Africa.

On Sunday, January 5, 1997, the Washington Post published an article under the headline, "Cloud of Scandal Follows UN Drug Control Official: Boutros-Ghali Ties Allegedly Gave Protection".

The article refers specifically to plaintiff and alleges that his UN colleagues had accused him of sexual harassment, financial improprieties and nepotism during his tenure in the Ivory Coast.

The article suggests that he had evaded punishment in part by invoking close ties to Mr. Boutros-Ghali, the former UN Secretary General, a close friend of plaintiff's father-in-law. The UN suspended plaintiff from his job as assistant regional director on January 9, 1997.

On Friday, January 10, 1997, the Washington Post published a second article under the headline, "UN Removes African from Drug Agency: Controversial Envoy's Misconduct Cited". The second article repeated the previous allegations of misconduct.

In February 1997, plaintiff joined his wife and two children in Montreal, where they had moved in December 1996. He and his family lived in Montreal until June 2000, when they moved to Ontario in the Brampton area. Plaintiff filed this action in April 2003. In his statement of claim, plaintiff asked for the following relief against the Washington Post. First, he wanted the court to order the Post to remove the offending articles from its web site and to publish a retraction.

Moreover, he also sought damages of $5 million for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and inducing a breach of employment contract. In addition, he wanted damages of $1...

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