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A luxury car upholsterer has been ordered to pay $90,000 plus costs after failing to appear to defend himself for defaming a former employee turned competitor.
A county court has awarded $90,000 in damages to Michael Iskander after he sued the owner of Melbourne-based car upholstery company BNB Products, David Barcos, for defaming him in a publication on Facebook.
Barcos used his company’s Facebook page, which has 20,000 followers, to upload a message titled “This is an official scam alert from BNB Products PTY LTD.”
He then falsely claimed that Iskander had defrauded a client out of his deposit and lied about having previously worked full-time at BNB Products.
Judge Julie Clayton ruled in favor of Mr Iskander’s testimony against the post after Barcos failed to appear in court or file a defence.
Luxury car upholstery company owner David Barcos (pictured) has been ordered to pay $90,000 in damages for failing to appear in court while being sued for defamation.
Judge Clayton ruled the post must have been seen by “at least a few hundred people” after receiving 93 reactions, 53 comments and 64 shares in the days after it was posted online.
Mr Iskander claimed a screenshot of a bank transfer attached to the message as “proof” of his Trev scam was fraudulent because the recipient’s name was “Mr Isklander” and not “Mr Iskander”.
He told the court the post damaged his reputation in the upholstery community because his company, Luxe Automotive Interiors, relies on Internet marketing to advertise to customers.
“I accept that some people within the custom upholstery community probably believed that the allegations made by Mr. Barcos were true, and that this probably had an impact on Mr. Iskander’s personal and professional reputation “, said Judge Clayton, according to Age.
Ms Clayton factored the fraudulent and fabricated evidence into the $90,000 cost of damages, with an additional $30,000 in legal fees for Mr Iskander’s lawyer, Matt Awad.
“If you lie about someone else, you could be held liable for defamation,” Mr. Awad said.
“In this case, the financial consequences for the publisher are severe.”
Former Barcos employee turned rival upholsterer Michael Iskander (pictured) sued Barcos over a Facebook post falsely claiming he had scammed a customer and was a liar.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Mr. Iskander informed his followers that he had won the defamation case and thanked those who “stood by my side… and did not believe the lies.”
“So for anyone who saw BNB’s post last December where David Barcos falsely claimed I was scamming customers, stealing money and more. I recently won the defamation case,” wrote Mr. Iskander.
“I am in no way trying to attack David Barcos, but rather to expose the facts to clear my name.
“I truly believe that if you remain a good person at heart and do good to others, good things will happen to you.
“But if you are not a good person and sincerely want to harm others, these are the consequences.”
Boss is forced to pay $90,000 to worker after he was sued for defamation over a Facebook post