A last-minute agreement hammered out on Wednesday between attorneys representing People’s National Party (PNP) General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, and two co-claimants, narrowly averted a six-day defamation trial following a suit filed in 2023.

Vaz, former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament (MP) for St Ann North Western Othneil Lawrence, and Member of Parliament for St Thomas Western James Robertson (JLP) had all filed lawsuits against Campbell over comments he made while naming them during a PNP meeting in Clarendon on July 27, 2023. The allegations in that broadside were primarily levelled at Vaz, but all three claimed they were “false, malicious and defamatory”.

The suit, subsequently filed in the Supreme Court by Vaz’s attorney Catherine Minto, had sought damages for defamation; exemplary and/or aggravated damages; interest pursuant to Section 3 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act; an injunction restraining Campbell from “further publishing or causing to be published in spoken word or written form the said or similar words defamatory of the claimant”; costs; and such further and/or other relief as the court deemed just. The matter was listed for trial beginning Tuesday, July 7.