BRAZIL

BRAZIL WHEREAS judges are awarding huge punitive damages for libel without any relation to the facts in the case this practice is generating a so-called industry of compensation the absence of ceilings on punitive damage awards is starting to spur disproportionately high verdicts aiming to cause the closure of the penalized newspaper and opening the way for revenge and persecution this process could lead to newspapers going bankrupt or practicing self-censorship THE IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES that the IAPA Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information list as specific threats to free practice of publication the "existence of legislation without any ceilings on punitive damage awards" to start discussing the subject in its meetings, requesting other countries' opinions on the topic to monitor its legal aspects, perhaps via the Chapultepec Project and its attorney, with the aim of identifying the countries where awards for compensation and damages are used to coerce the press and individual journalists to urge the Committee to discuss "the evolution of lawsuits or awards for compensation in cases of invasion of privacy and damage to reputation," a profitable practice which by all indications is spreading in the Americas.