Stelios wins Ryanair libel battle
15 July 2010
Download PDF of press release
Download PDF of Statement in open Court
Sir Stelios Haji-loannou has won his libel battle against Michael O’Leary and Ryanair, it was announced today by his solicitors Schillings.
Sir Stelios, the founder of easyJet and the easyGroup business empire, accepted a complete apology and retraction from O’Leary and Ryanair over a series of libelous adverts in January and February this year which portrayed Sir Stelios as a “Pinocchio” character and alleged he had “hidden the truth” about easyJet’s on-time statistics. By doing so, they alleged he had lied. He had not.
In settlement of the claim O’Leary and Ryanair have taken out advertisements in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph apologising to Sir Stelios for including him in the original advertisements. In an agreed statement read in the High Court this morning, Sir Stelios’ lawyers Schillings said: “Mr. O’Leary and Ryanair accept that the advertisements should not have been published referring to Sir Stelios and have made a complete offer to settle his claim. In doing so they fully accept that Sir Stelios did not lie about the matter.”
The Claim was issued after Sir Stelios’ complaint about the original adverts was met with a robust and public response from O’Leary and Ryanair. After challenging Sir Stelios to a race around Trafalgar Square or a Sumo Wrestling Competition to resolve the dispute, O’Leary and Ryanair have now agreed to pay damages, legal costs and undertake not to repeat the claim in addition to the public apologies.
Commenting on the settlement Sir Stelios said: “This was an unpleasant personal attack on me by a large public company, made worse by the way O’Leary responded to the legal complaints. I am pleased the law provides protection to individuals like me from unpleasant attacks on reputations from large corporations like Ryanair.”
Schillings partner Rachel Atkins led the team representing Sir Stelios assisted by Chris Scott. Michael Bloch QC of Wilberforce Chambers and David Sherborne of 5RB were briefed.
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