Cricket: Cairns wins libel case against Modi

Former NZ all-rounder awarded £90,000 in damages.

LONDON: Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns won a libel action against Lalit Modi that leaves the one-time chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) facing a bill of more than $794,000.

In the first libel action heard in England against a post on Twitter, Cairns, 41, was awarded £90,000 damages after Judge David Bean dismissed fixing allegations levelled against the cricketer by Modi. Meanwhile, Modi was also ordered to pay an additional £400,000 on account of Cairns' costs to his solicitors within 28 days.

Cairns sued over an 'unequivocal allegation' of match-fixing on Modi's Twitter account in January 2010. Bean said Modi had 'singularly failed' to provide any reliable evidence Cairns was involved in match-fixing or spot-fixing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2012.