In the judgement in the names of 'Euro Resort Investments
Limited (the "Plaintiff Company") vs.
Madeleine Bonnici' (the "Defendant")
decided on the 30th July 2021, the Court of Appeal found
the Defendant guilty of defamation for inaccurately awarding very
low ratings on Booking.com and this following her stay at
an apartment owned and managed by the Plaintiff Company. The Court
reached this conclusion after a thorough analysis of the relevant
provisions of the Media and Defamation Act, Chapter 579 of the Laws
of Malta (the "Act"'). While the
Court of Appeal agreed with most of the findings of the Court of
Magistrates, it had a diverging opinion on whether unjustifiably
giving low ratings on a public forum amounted to an 'honest
opinion' as per Article 4(2) of the Act. The Court of
Appeal found in the negative, overturned the judgement of the Court
of Magistrates and awarded the Plaintiff Company €200 in moral
damages.
