The Ukrainian woman who survived the car crash in which Liam Lawlor died has settled a libel action with the Observernewspaper. Paul Cullenreports.
The settlement, which will be announced in the High Court on Monday, is the first made by Julia Kushnir with the six newspapers she has sued over the reporting of the crash in Moscow in 2005.
Five other actions - against the Sunday Independent, the Irish Independent, the Sunday Tribune, the Sunday Worldand the Irish Sunday Mirror- are continuing.
The first case to be heard in court, involving the Sunday World, is due to start on February 21st. Ms Kushnir (30) will travel to Ireland to appear as a witness in the trial, along with character witnesses from Tel Aviv, New York and Moscow.
However, at a court hearing on Monday, lawyers for the Sunday Worldwill demand that Ms Kushnir lodge a sum in court as security in the event that her libel case fails. The newspaper will say that because Ms Kushnir has no assets in the State, it could prove difficult to recover costs from her if she loses. Ms Kushnir's legal team are expected to resist this application vigorously.
Dates for the cases involving other newspapers have not been set, but these are expected to take place in the coming months.
Mr Lawlor died in November 2005 when the car in which he was a passenger crashed on the road from Moscow airport to the city centre. His Russian driver, Ruslan Suliamanov, was also killed and Ms Kushnir, a law clerk living in Prague who was working as an interpreter for Mr Lawlor, was injured.
The Sunday Independent, using information provided by the Observer'scorrespondent in Moscow, wrongly suggested that Mr Lawlor was in the company of a teenage prostitute when he died. The story was "lifted" by other newspapers.
Neither the Observernor lawyers for Ms Kushnir would disclose the terms of their settlement yesterday, citing a confidentiality clause. However, the Czech woman's advisers are hoping this settlement will create a "domino effect" encouraging other newspapers to settle.
Ms Kushnir is proceeding with her case notwithstanding the fact that all the newspapers cited have either apologised or offered to do so for their coverage.
The newspapers are likely to acknowledge they made mistakes in the reporting of the crash, while arguing that because she does not live in Ireland, and had no previous links here, any damage to her good name was minimal.
She made her first visit to Ireland last week to meet briefly with her lawyers. Up to now, she has shunned media publicity, apart from issuing one statement which criticised the "reckless, vengeful and ill-corroborated" stories written about her in the press.
She has recovered from the injuries sustained in the crash, and is studying for her final law exams.
After Mr Lawlor's death, Independent News and Media carried out an internal investigation into the Sunday Independent'sreporting of the crash but did not disclose the results of this inquiry.