(CMR) Marco Archer’s request to have Sandra Hill imprisoned has been called off according to court documents seen today.
It appears that her commitment to “fight to the bitter end” won’t be necessary at this stage. The committal order was part of a larger defamation lawsuit that is still ongoing. However, this order filed by Archer's legal team puts to an end the allegation that Hill was in breach of the injunction.
At the end of August Archer filed a lawsuit alleging that Hill had defamed him in a Cayman Marl Road story entitled “Archer accused of abuse of office in stamp duty fiasco”.
He requested and was granted a court ordered injunction prohibiting re-publication until the matter could be considered fully by the courts. The order asked that the post be removed from the website and “any forms of social media where it has been published” and that Ms. Hill be restrained from “further distribution” of the post.
After securing the injunction in late August Archer then claimed that it was breached on two separate occasions. His committal request stated that that discussing the matter on a talk show and writing another article amounted to re-publication. He immediately requested that a hearing for the courts to consider imprisonment.
Many saw this as surprising move and social media commentary weighed in on the discussion at the time. One poster was shocked that anyone would seek to jail someone for what many saw as free speech and a civil matter.
One noted:
Being disrespectful to a political competitor is one thing. Wanting to jail someone is another. I really thought better of #MarcoArcher
At a hearing in September Justice Timothy Owen ordered that given the seriousness of the matter Hill was entitled to assistance with securing an attorney and delayed the hearing a few days for that to be arranged. Hill obtained Ben Tonner, QC from McGrath Tonner and a further delay was requested in order for the parties to prepare their legal arguments for the committal hearing.
However, in an unexpected turn of events the request has now been formally “stayed” with the filing of another order – essentially bringing this part of the proceedings to an end. Hill will not be going to jail!
We understand the defamation case will proceed and will advise once a trial date is announced.
Following an injunction hearing on August 30th the post was removed and a public apology issued.
Cayman Marl Road has since been incorporated in the United States and now engages ghost writers who write and control the website content.
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