Inflation nightclub owner Martha Tsamis successfully sues Vic Pol for defamation

A nightclub owner who was left devastated and bedridden after her reputation was tarnished by false comments made by a Victoria Police officer had a win against the agency.

Inflation nightclub boss Martha Tsamis has been awarded $90,000 after suing Victoria Police for defamation.

The payout, awarded in the Supreme Court today, fell well short of the $350,000 Ms Tsamis had sought after successfully arguing media comments by former assistant commissioner Brett Guerin had hurt her standing in the community.

A jury of six ruled Mr Guerin in 2014 defamed Ms Tsamis when he told the Herald Sun she operated her King St venue in a way that was conducive to violence and drunkenness, allowed minors to enter and had jeopardised the health of her patrons.

Inflation nightclub owner Martha Tsamis.

Justice John Dixon today said the $90,000 was warranted because of the “gravity of the sting of the false imputations and their widespread dissemination.”

“This award included a modest allowance for aggravated damages, owing to the manner in which Mr Guerin had caused the imputations to be widely disseminate, in order to maximise the impact of the police case to restrict the operation of Inflation,” he said.

Justice Dixon found that before Mr Guerin’s comments Ms Tsamis enjoyed a positive professional reputation within the nightclub industry.

Specifically, she had taken an active role toward nightclubs achieving compliance with appropriate regulatory standards, he said.

“The effect of the verdict of the jury was that Victoria Police had falsely conveyed that Ms Tsamis had operated Inflation in a manner that was inconsistent with her good reputation,” Justice Dixon said.

Ms Tsamis earlier told the court she felt devastated, distraught and betrayed by the comments made in the article and was unable to get out of bed for three days.

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Ms Tsamis did not waver on her denials her club allowed drug dealing, underage drinking or violence.

She told the jury she did “as much as we possibly could” to keep drugs out of the club.

After three days of deliberation, the jury ruled in favour of Ms Tsamis in four of her defamation claims and dismissed four.

Mr Guerin’s comments came shortly after police applied to restrict Inflation’s 24-hour liquor license based on claims of 59 underage drinking, violence and drug “incidents”.

Ms Tsamis said the incidents were never brought to her attention.

The police application was withdrawn 12 months later.