Harju County Court makes landmark ruling in Alexela and Heiti Hääl vs Delfi Meedia media dispute

In the summer of 2023, Delfi Meedia published an article and an editorial on the website of delfi.ee and in the paper edition of Eesti Päevaleht, where it published a number of inappropriate value judgments and incorrect facts towards Alexela and Heiti Hääl, and called for a boycott of Alexela.

Alexela and Heiti Hääl disagreed with what was published and filed a lawsuit against Delfi Meedia, demanding the refutation of published factual allegations, the removal of the editorial and compensation for the damage caused. In a recent county court ruling, the court came to a positive decision for our clients, with which the court:

– condemned the call for a boycott of Alexela published by Delfi/Eesti Päevaleht, stating that Delfi Media’s call was aimed at deliberately damaging Alexela;
– found that Delfi/Eesti Päevaleht had published an incorrect factual statement about Alexela and had made a number of inappropriate value judgements towards both Alexela and Heiti Hääl;
– ordered the publication of large-scale reports refuting the incorrect factual allegation both in the online edition of Delfi and in the paper edition of Eesti Päevaleht;
– ordered the removal in its entirety of the published editorial containing the boycott pledge and inappropriate value judgments;
– ordered to pay damages to both Alexela and Heiti Hääl and reimburse the costs of the proceedings.

The decision has not yet entered into force and the dispute is still pending in the district court, but it is a landmark ruling in the context of media disputes. For the first time in case law, the legality of a call for boycott was assessed, and the decision also establishes the direction that if the publication is voluminous, the rebuttal must be equally voluminous, i.e. the principle of rebuttal “in the same volume and in the same manner” must not be merely performative. In addition, if an article is rendered irrelevant because of the inappropriateness of the published assessments, it is subject to deletion.

Alexela and Heiti Hääl were represented in the litigation by COBALT`s Managing Associate Kadri Michelson and Associate Anna-Riin Brett.