Sir Clive Lloyd’s lawsuit against Chronicle dismissed

The defamation lawsuit filed by former West Indies captain, Sir Clive Lloyd against the State newspaper, Guyana Chronicle has been dismissed by High Court Judge Navindra Singh, who deemed the application a “gross waste of judicial time.”

The lawsuit stemmed from an article titled ‘Holder has outlived his usefulness in the position, says Lloyd,’ published on March 13, 2021, under the byline of Rajiv Bisnauth.

In the article, Sir Clive was portrayed as making disparaging comments about all-rounder Jason Holder, another former West Indies captain. The newspaper later issued an apology and retraction.

The article was based on a misinterpretation by its sports writer, Bisnauth, of an article he had read online.

Sir Clive argued that the article in the State newspaper portrayed him as intemperate, hostile, mean-spirited, unfriendly, disloyal, disrespectful, malevolent, and unduly intrusive into West Indies cricket affairs.

Justice Singh, however, found that the words used in the article were not defamatory of Holder.

Instead, they conveyed the view that Holder was no longer the best choice for the captaincy, given Brathwaite’s successful leadership in a test series against Bangladesh.

In his ruling, Justice Singh explained that the words, even if spoken by Sir Clive, expressed an opinion that Holder was no longer an automatic choice as captain, rather than implying that he should not be considered as a captain.

“The suit was frivolous and a gross waste of judicial resources,” the judge said as he pointed out the Sir Clive failed to demonstrate any damage or loss resulting from the publication.

Sir Clive was ordered to pay $750,000 in costs by November 30, 2023.