{"id":347300,"date":"2025-08-27T10:23:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=347300"},"modified":"2025-08-27T10:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:48:12","slug":"court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Court awards EC$75,000 in defamation case to former Dominica Red Cross Director-General"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo of Pinard-Byrne taken in 2015 when she was Director-General of the Dominica Red Cross Society<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Mrs. Kathleen Pinard-Byrne, former Director-General of the Dominica Red Cross Society (DRCS), awarding her EC$75,000 in general damages for defamation of character. The judgment, delivered on June 30, 2025, also includes interest and legal costs.<\/p>\n

The case stemmed from statements made by the DRCS and its then Acting Director-General, Mr. Jaslyn Salmon of Jamaica, during a press conference held shortly after Mrs. Pinard-Byrne\u2019s retirement. The Court found that the remarks made at the event were defamatory and unjustly impugned Pinard-Byrne’s professional reputation.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Pinard-Byrne had served as Director-General of the DRCS for 25 years, and the Court\u2019s decision was seen as a formal vindication of her longstanding service and integrity.<\/p>\n

The matter was listed under case number DOMHCV2018\/0129 and appeared on the April 11, 2024 docket for Justice Jacqueline Josiah-Graham<\/a> and the February 27, 2025 docket for Master Vernette Richardson<\/a>, indicating its progression through the judicial system.<\/p>\n

The defendants, the Dominica Red Cross Society and Mr. Salmon, were held jointly liable for the defamatory statements. The judgment concludes a multi-year legal process initiated by Mrs. Pinard-Byrne to restore her reputation following her departure from the organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Mrs. Kathleen Pinard-Byrne, former Director-General of the Dominica Red Cross Society (DRCS), awarding her EC$75,000 in general damages for defamation of character. The judgment, delivered on June 30, 2025, also…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":145060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-court-law","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCourt awards EC$75,000 in defamation case to former Dominica Red Cross Director-General - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court awards EC$75,000 in defamation case to former Dominica Red Cross Director-General - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Mrs. Kathleen Pinard-Byrne, former Director-General of the Dominica Red Cross Society (DRCS), awarding her EC$75,000 in general damages for defamation of character. The judgment, delivered on June 30, 2025, also...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-27T14:23:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-27T14:48:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Kathleen-Pinard-Byrne.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1cf13c57fb23f5f3f17888628ce87bed\"},\"headline\":\"Court awards EC$75,000 in defamation case to former Dominica Red Cross Director-General\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-27T14:23:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-27T14:48:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":226,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/Kathleen-Pinard-Byrne.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Crime\\\/Court\\\/Law\",\"Homepage Carousel\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dominicanewsonline.com\\\/news\\\/homepage\\\/homepage-carousel\\\/court-awards-ec75000-in-defamation-case-to-former-dominica-red-cross-director-general\\\/\",\"name\":\"Court awards EC$75,000 in defamation case to former Dominica Red Cross Director-General - 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