Google has been ordered to pay $208,000 to a Melbourne man who sued the Internet giant for defaming him by linking him to an underworld figure.
Michael Trkulja argued that the search engine defamed him by publishing his image alongside a picture of Tony Mokbel, a convicted drug boss and by linking his name to stories about an unsolved murder. A Victorian Supreme Court jury found that the complaint amounts to defamation and ordered Google to pay him Aus $200,000 (U.S. $208,000).
Trkulja was shot in the back in 2004 while eating with his elderly mother at a St. Albans restaurant and the images linked to the underworld criminal were posted after the incident. The crime was never solved, but Google search related to him brought up nearly 185,000 results and photographs under the heading "Melbourne Crime" including pictures of Melbourne identity Tony Mokbel.
According to the Australian Financial Review report, "The jury found that an ordinary Internet surfer observing images between October and December 2009 would conclude that Trkulja was so involved with crime in Melbourne that his rivals hired a hit man to murder him." Google failed to remove the images even after receiving a letter from Trkulja's lawyers in September asking for its removal.
Trkulija had been a music promoter for 40 years, had a top rating television show in the 1990s and was a highly respected member of the Serbian community in Melbourne.
After a series of hearing, the Justice David Beach awarded him less than the $225,000 that Trkulja received in damages from the Yahoo!7 search engine over its publication of the material earlier this year.
"In the end, because I think this case is more about vindication and 'nailing the lie' ... in my view, the appropriate amount of damages in this case is Aus$200,000," the judge said.
