Infringement of honor, dignity, business reputation - Legal Aspects and Problems
By Mariam Chanishvili
Wednesday, May 23
Conference organized by the Association of Law Firms of Georgia (ALFG) and TBC Bank titled -“Infringements of honor, dignity, business reputation - Legal Aspects and Problems", took place at Radisson Blu Iveria on May 18.
The conference was led by Chairman of Georgian Law Firms Association, Zviad Kordzadze, Deputy Chairman of ALFG, Ketevan Kvartskhava, Head of Legal Department of TBC Bank, Ekaterine Egutia, Tbilisi Appeal Court Judge, Ketevan Meskhishvii and the Executive Director of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, Nata Dzvelishvili.
The speakers discussed various topics, such as the freedom of speech, business reputation, damages caused as a result of defamation, inviolability of dignity and honor, etc.
American standards of freedom of speech and the scope of freedom of expression from the perspective of journalists were also reviewed.
The conference included discussions and Q&A sessions.
Ekaterine Egutia noted that all information shared via media has to be checked and validated.
“The discussion topics will include the concept of defamation and standards of freedom of speech in accordance with the US legislation,” stated Egutia.
Kordzadze talked about the concept of dignity, honor, new Constitutional norms and the differences between the opinions and facts.
“The opinion is a subjective view of a person, which can be false, but the falseness of facts is inadmissible,” noted Kordzadze.
Court practice was also discussed during the conference, including the case of TBC Bank against Asaval-Dasavali.
TBC Bank and Mamuka Khazaradze filed a suit against Asaval-Dasavali in February 2014 for a deliberate long-term campaign to discredit both the individual and the bank.
The court dispute lasted four years. The case was related to the spread of false information about TBC Bank and its founder, as well as damages to Khazaradze’s honor, dignity and business reputation.
The newspaper executed a decision passed by the Supreme Court and publicly denied false information published in different newspaper editions in 2014.
Additionally, the newspaper also paid monetary compensation to compensate moral damage.
The Association of Law Firms of Georgia aims to protect corporate rights and interests of the law firms, promote, develop and protect advocates’ rights and interests, develop and protect professional ethical standards and increase the quality of legal service and the qualification of the lawyers.
