SPEAR wins libel suit, awarded $70,000

The Society for the Promotion of Education and Research, SPEAR, and Assad Shoman have won a libel suit against the Banana Growers Association. The suit was brought against the B.G.A. in connection with allegations made by members of the Association during a strike in 1995 that SPEAR and Shoman had instigated violence, which resulted in the murder of a man and the injury of another. SPEAR and Shoman sued for libel and defamation of character and won. The Supreme Court awarded the plaintiffs seventy thousand dollars and also fined the B.G.A. ten thousand dollars in court costs. SPEAR’s Executive Director Dylan Vernon could not be contacted for comment. He is however quoted in a report aired this evening on LOVE FM as saying that SPEAR is happy that its name has been cleared of any involvement with the death of anyone.