THE bete noire of ASLEF has struck again. Shaun Brady, the union’s former geneal secretary, has won £30,000 damages in a libel action against his successor Keith Norman over an article which appeared two years ago in the union’s journal. Mr Brady, who was at the centre of an acrimonious dismissal in 2004, over which he brought a successful claim for unfair dismissal, sued over an article headlined “The Brady Era Is Over”. He claimed the article stated that the certification officer, who deals with trade union regulations, had ruled that he was legitimately excluded from membership of ASLEF for bringing the union into disrepute. The journal published a prompt apology accepting that the words used were incorrect, but denied they bore a defamatory meaning. In a two-day High Court hearing Judge Richard Parkes observed that Mr Brady was very upset about the article, but that there was no evidence that it had affected his business or social life. After the jury’s unanimous verdict, Mr Brady, who had previously offered to settle for £9,500, said he felt “vindicated”. The two sides agreed that there should be a stay on the payment of the award above £15,000 pending any appeal.
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