IPNEWS: The Civil Law Court has issued a Writ of Summon on the Management of Spoon TV, FM Communication Network, and owner Stanton Witherspoon over the alleged US$2.5 lawsuit filed by the former Deputy Director General for Information Coordination at the Liberia Institute of Statistic and Geo-Information Services, Wilmot Smith.

Judge Kennedy Peabody on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, commanded the defendants to appear before the court to answer to complaint Smith mentioned in an Action of Damage for Libel and Slander.

“You are at this moment further commanded to notify the said defendants to file a formal appearance and answer in my office on or before January 16, 2023, meanwhile you will make your official returns endorsed on the back of the writ of summons as to the manner of its service,” the Writ says.

Plaintiff Wilmot Smith on Friday, January 6, 2023, prayed the court to adjudge the defendants liable for damages in the amount not less than US$2,500,000.00 (for General Damages to be decided by the trial jury, and US$500,000.00 in Punitive Damages and US$500,000.00 for successful attorney fees.

Plaintiff’s legal team headed by Cllr. Arthur Johnson said that his client is a law-abiding and eminent citizen who has served in several positions of high trust and continues to serve in the Republic of Liberia based on the reputation he had built for himself.

Cllr. Johnson said that the 1st defendant is the employer of the 2nd defendant. The 1st-defendant is engaged in the administration, management, and operation of New Media and Talk Shows operated on several radio stations in Liberia and other social media networks operations in Liberia and the United States of America that are listened to by thousands of people in and out of Liberia named and styled as the Spoon TV Talk Show, and Network Communication. Additionally, the 2nd Defendant is the owner, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Managing Director of the 1st Defendant.

“The 2nd Defendant is the Owner/Chief Executive Officer(CEO)/Managing Director of the 1st Defendant, Spoon TV, and while in his official capacity as President/CEO of the 1ST Defendant, he willfully, intentionally, and purposely engaged in a slanderous and libelous campaign to harm and defame, embarrass, and humiliate the Plaintiff on Spoon TV social media, news networks, and platforms, including radio stations for more than three(3) months by branding the Plaintiff as a criminal and person who stole Census funds intended to pay enumerators; that is to say that the Plaintiff stole and personally converted Liberian population and housing census money that was designed for pay enumerators. This allegation of the Defendants is untrue and defamatory and has injured Plaintiff unjustifiably.”

He revealed that between June 2022 and November 30, 2022, on the Spoon Talk Show, the named 2nd Defendant engaged in a systematic campaign to defame Plaintiff by alleging that Plaintiff stole and personally converted Liberia National Population and Housing Census Money.

In fact, according to the 2nd Defendant, on the 1st Defendant’s platform, Spoon TV and other networks, which were shared on many different social media platforms, are viewed and listened to by thousands of people nationally and internationally for the sole purpose of defaming and damaging Plaintiff, Mr. Wilmot Smith, the 2nd Defendant repeatedly labeled and stigmatized Plaintiff as a criminal during the Talk Shows thereby placing Plaintiff life in shame and embarrassment and also in danger from enumerators and even the public as a whole.

“Plaintiff wrote the 1st and 2nd Defendants about the wrongful conduct of the 2nd Defendant on November 30, 2022, because the information made by the 2nd Defendant was untrue and deceptive and that the sole purpose of the Defendants’ actions was to tarnish the Plaintiff’s character and reasons best known to the Defendants.

The Defendants were asked to retract their statements against Plaintiff because such reports tend to defame, embarrass, and cause inconvenience to Plaintiff in our gullible society. Still, up to the filing of this Complaint, the Defendants have failed to retract their slanderous and libelous statements that have been carried out in print and electronic media for the sole purpose of naming, shaming, and harming Plaintiff.

The objective of the 2nd Defendant’s action was to defame and embarrass and injure the reputational integrity of the plaintiff, which Defendants have achieved because up to the time of the filing of this Complaint, the Defendants are still engaged in carrying out these slanderous statements on social media and other internet platforms against the dignified image of the Plaintiff”.

According to him, during the defendants’ libelous campaign against his client, the defendants, particularly the 2nd defendant, labeled Plaintiff as someone who had converted funds intended for the national census into personal use. To prove that the 2nd Defendant’s statements were untrue, The United Nations Population Fund and Steering Committee International Partners debunked the Defendants’ account on November 11, 2022, and later cautioned Liberians not to politicize the census; additionally, on October 24, 2022, the UNFPA called on the Liberian people to ignore Defendants’ recording, which falsely accused Plaintiff.

“The defendants facilitated on their Platform (Spoon TV) and internet communication networks that Plaintiff conspired with Hon. Samuel D. Tweah, Minister of Finance, to open a secret foreign account in the Republic of Ivory Coast in an Ecobank Account. This statement was also untrue and defamatory because ECOBANK debunked Defendant’s assertions against Plaintiff when ECOBANK denied ever having such a secret account. The ECOBANK statement appeared on the FrontPage Newspaper Vo.16 No.215, dated Monday, November 21, 2022”.

“WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES, Plaintiff humbly prays Your Honor and this Honorable Court to hold the defendants liable for general damages in the amount not less than Two Million Five Hundred United States Dollars (US$2,500,000.00) to be decided by the trial jury, and punitive damages in the amount of FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS (US$500,000.00) for libel and slander, and grant unto Plaintiff all other reliefs that are and legal including successful attorney fees of US$500,000.00,” the court document said.