The Daycontinues to track the various bills aimed at limiting the damages that can be sought in lawsuits against the mass media. Recall that the drafts of amendments to current laws regulating the information theater offered by People’s Deputies Oleksandr Zinchenko, Oleksiy Shekhovtsov, Zoreslava Romovska, Oleksandr Kulyk, and Vitaly Shevchenko, had been scheduled for today’s session. None of them have received the required number of votes. In accordance with new parliament rules, the consideration of these bills has been deferred to the next session. And meanwhile, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Freedom of Expression Zinchenko has offered to set up a work group to develop a single bill, with the hope that this step will make it possible to put together the majority necessary for lawmakers to consider the issue. What steps will Ukraine’s Supreme Court take in this situation, when lawsuits demanding inexorable damages are brought against mass media outlets and parliament puts off any decision on setting the maximum in such cases? The Dayasked Ukrainian Supreme Court Justice Ivan DOMBROVSKY precisely this question:
“At the Justice Ministry’s request the Supreme Court advanced its suggestions concerning the introduction of amendments to the cabinet decree on the state customs duties. It suggests that law suits against the mass media connected with damages for moral damage be paid on the same grounds. This means that if the plaintiff wins the case the defendant will have to pay the amount sought, but if the plaintiff loses it he will have to pay the defendant. In this way it will be possible to stimulate filing of law suits for realistic and not astronomical damages. We proposed that if the legal damages come to a hundred minimum incomes (tax excluded) the duty to be paid will equal one minimum income (UAH 17 — Auth.); if it is above that limit the duty will equal 10% of the amount sought in the lawsuit. I believe that at this stage this is the most realistic way to limit the unjustified amounts being demanded. We have forwarded the document to the Justice Ministry which in turn is to present it to the Verkhovna Rada through the Cabinet of Ministers.
