Inflation nightclub owner wins defamation lawsuit
The boss of King St nightclub Inflation has won a defamation suit against the state of Victoria after successfully arguing her reputation had been damaged by police claims of drugs and violence at the club.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A top nightclub boss has had a major win in a defamation suit against the state of Victoria.
Martha Tsamis, manager of popular King St venue Inflation successfully argued former top cop Brett Guerin damaged her reputation when he told a reporter her management of the club allowed for drug trafficking, drunkenness and violence.
Defence lawyers had claimed the comments made by the former assistant commissioner were not defamatory because they were true.
But this afternoon a six-person jury agreed with Ms Tsamis’ claim that these comments made in a 2014 interview with this paper had muddied her reputation and standing in the community.
Ms Tsamis also successfully argued Mr Guerin had defamed her when he implied she had let underage minors into the club and that she had run her venue in a way that jeopardised her patron’s health and led to many hospital admissions.
Ms Tsamis will be awarded damages — an amount which is to be determined next month.
But it wasn’t all good news for the nightclub boss, with the jury dismissing claims Mr Guerin was untrue in labelling her venue a “honey pot” for drug dealers and ran the club in a way which resulted in drug taking and overdoses in and around the venue.
During the three week trial before Justice John Dixon, 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.
Ms Tsamis said she had never seen anyone consuming drugs inside her venue, but conceded it was “possible” people had smuggled drugs in in places security were not permitted to search — like their underwear and bras.
Ms Tsamis said police had failed to find drug users at the club during more than 300 visits.
“(Police) haven’t grabbed anyone and marched them in front of me and said ‘here is a drug user’.
“Not once,” Ms Tsamis said during evidence.
In a bid to prove Mr Guerin’s comments were true, the defence called witnesses to detail “the ease” in which they smuggled drugs into the club on Saturday nights.
Two witnesses told the six person jury how they overdosed on GHB after consuming the dangerous party drug in the club’s toilets.
Another witness recalled using her older sister’s learner’s permit to enter the venue while high on ecstasy — despite Ms Tsamis claiming the club had a rule not to accept these permits as a valid ID.
Defence barrister Paul Hayes told the jury he did not doubt the club had a security checks in place — but argued the system was flawed and not rigorously enforced.
“Martha Tsamis controlled the door, but we say she didn’t do it very well,” he said.
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 2014 comments came shortly after police applied to restrict Ms Tsamis’ 24-hour liquor license and implement a 1.30am lockout and 3am close on claims of 59 underage drinking, violence and drug “incidents”.
Ms Tsamis said the incidents were never brought to her attention and she was only aware of alleged drug dealing in the venue car park.
The police application was withdrawn 12 months later.