Fouad Najem loses defamation lawsuit against Isaac Martin

In the first video, made on April 22, Nagem called Martin “a pedophile and a racist.”

The next day, Nagem released a second video about him on his second Instagram account, this time calling Martin a “pedo dog” and a racist “attacking Muslims”. . He also called Martin “the most hated person” in the food review industry.

At the end of this second video, Nagem posted a doctored photo of Martin at Bondi Beach and overlaid the word “RACIST.”

A third video, posted a few hours later, again featured a photo of Martin at Bondi Beach superimposed with the word “RACIST.”

On April 24th, a fourth video was released by Najem, making “derogatory and very offensive” remarks about Martin’s wife.

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Despite a civil lawsuit focused on four videos made in three days, Martin claims he was targeted with about 14 videos in six months.

Similar to the video, Martin received a direct message from Najem on April 24th. [him]and stated that he was a “racist dog” and was trying to “destroy” Martin.

Martin reported publications and messages to police on April 25-26 and sought an AVO against Nagem before starting legal proceedings in July.

At the time the video was posted, Martin had over 210,000 followers on Instagram, while Najem’s main Instagram page has nearly 20,000 followers and his second page has nearly 1,400 followers. I was there.

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Judge Gibson awarded Martin a total of $300,000, including aggravated damages, and $6,656 in interest after discovering Nagem was involved in a campaign to “attack and discredit plaintiffs’ reputations.” . She also ordered Nagem to pay Martin’s legal costs.

“Unfortunately, this example of ‘catastrophic harm’ is becoming more and more common, thanks in large part to social media,” she said in her decision.

In a statement posted on his social media pages, Martin said he initiated the defamation proceedings to “protect his family” and said that Nagem’s campaign was “indefensible, despicable and unfounded.” No.”

“Online trolls and cyber bullies[sic]must realize they are accountable,” he said.

Najem did not appear in court for the delivery of the sentence. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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