Will ‘Committee’ case put North itself on trial?

By Ray O’Hanlon

Alleged libel in the pages of a controversial book might be the publicly stated reason for the trial that will see Derry author Sean McPhilemy defend himself against the Prentice brothers of Portadown.

But given the voluminous exchange of legal papers between both sides and the extensive witness lists drawn up by both camps, the matter of David and Albert Wesley Prentice’s $100 million libel case against McPhilemy, Roberts Rinehart Publishers and Box Productions Limited, is looking more and more like a potential courtroom drama in which Northern Ireland society itself will be in the dock.

The trial is due to open on Monday, May 8, in the Civil Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

In anticipation of the trial going ahead after two years of advance legal argument, lawyers for McPhilemy and the other two defendants have submitted a "memorandum of points and authorities" in support of their clients’ motion for summary judgment. It runs to 102 pages.

The Washington, D.C.-based attorneys for the Prentice brothers have responded with a 147-page memorandum in opposition to McPhilemy’s motion and a so-called "cross-motion" seeking partial summary judgment in favor of the Prentices.

This, in turn, has prompted a 56-page response from McPhilemy’s New York-based legal team that seeks to pick apart the allegation by the Prentices that they were maliciously libeled in McPhilemy’s book "The Committee" and a preceding television documentary based on the same subject matter.

Should the trial proceed — pretrial argument is scheduled for next Monday with jury selection set for May 10 — a long list of witnesses has been lined up by both sides.

The attorney for McPhilemy and his co-defendants, Russell Smith, has drawn up a final list of 37 witnesses that includes journalists Tim Pat Coogan and Harold Evans, as well as Michael Grade, former head of Channel Four and managing director of the BBC.

The Prentices are being represented by the firm of Zuckerman, Sp’der, Kolker, Taylor and Kolker. The firm has drawn up a potential witness list amounting to about 40 individuals. Included on the list of potential witnesses is Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble.

Trimble’s name is linked to the alleged "Committee" in McPhilemy’s book. The former Northern Ireland First Minister is not a party to the D.C. case but is separately suing the online bookseller amazon.UK for distributing the book in Britain and Ireland.

Trimble is named in the book as one of five "associate" members of the Committee. The Committee is credited with 23 full members by McPhilemy in his book.

McPhilemy’s book, the full title of which is "The Committee, Political Assassination in Northern Ireland, was not published in Ireland or Britain because of the particularly stringent libel laws in both jurisdictions. These laws, somewhat ironically, came to McPhilemy’s aid when he recently successfully sued the Sunday Times newspaper in the London High Court after the paper dubbed him a hoaxer.

The McPhilemy book names a number of leading individuals in Northern Ireland — including members of the police, clergy, legal profession and business figures — as belonging to a shadowy group responsible for plotting the murders of a number of Catholics between 1989 and 1991. The Prentices are named in the book as being members of "The Committee."

"Inherently implausible"

In their memorandum placed before the Superior Court, the attorneys for the Prentice brothers charge that the story of "The Committee" is "inherently implausible."

"Any journalist or publisher would know that the Committee thesis is, on its face, implausible," they contend.

"It simply defies belief that in the years of the Committee’s existence no one had breathed a hint of it or an organization like it."

Zuckerman Sp’der allege that the defendants published "defamatory allegations" against the Prentices with actual malice and that the professed belief of the defendants in the truth of the allegations is not relevant to the issue of actual malice.

"The Committee" was published in 1998 by Colorado-based Roberts Rinehart. However, the formal launch of the book took pace in Washington, D.C., hence the venue for the trial should it proceed before Judge Geoffrey Alprin.

Zuckerman Sp’der state that the book launch took place in Washington is order to ensure that it received maximum attention.

The attorneys further argue that Washington is an appropriate venue because "it is home of the governmental entities which make United States policy on matters concerning Northern Ireland."

They add: "Roberts Rinehart sent advance copies to Senators Kennedy and Moynihan, as well as Congressman King and President Clinton, not the Governor of Colorado or the Mayor of Denver, for this reason.

"Furthermore, its citizenry consists of persons, certainly more so than Colorado, likely to read the publication and act on its contents. The District of Columbia is not only the home of the Irish and British Embassies, but the home of numerous non-governmental organizations interested in matters relating to Northern Ireland. The book was intended to affect British and Irish policy toward Northern Ireland. Finally, the District of Columbia is the home of most major media organizations covering affairs in Northern Ireland.

"When Mr. McPhilemy came to Washington, D.C., in June 1998 to launch his book, he not only held publicity events at local District of Columbia bookstores and Irish pubs, but he met in the District of Columbia with producers from CNN, ABC, and CBS, among others, to publicize his defamation of the Prentices to the maximum extent."

In the 56-page rebuttal to the Zuckerman Sp’der memorandum, McPhilemy’s lawyers refer to the outcome of the jury trial in the Sunday Times/McPhilemy case.

"A jury of 12 English citizens in the British High Court, after hearing nearly 50 witnesses in over eight weeks of testimony, including that of David Prentice and 18 of the other 21 living alleged members of the Committee who testified for the Sunday Times, ruled unanimously for McPhilemy on every issue."

That ruling is currently under appeal. As it presently stands, the D.C. trial could match or even exceed the eight-week timespan of the London trial.

A "Draft Trial Schedule" lists May 10 as the opening day and July 7 as the date for closing arguments and jury instructions.