‘Reckless’ Moët Hennessy defamation case thrown out
A former Moët Hennessy employee has been cleared of defamation against the French firm, the Paris Court of Appeal has ruled.
Maria Gasparovic, who was the former chief of staff to Moët Hennessy’s wine and spirits global head of distribution, was taken to court by the French firm on the grounds that she had publicly defamed the company in a LinkedIn post published in August 2024.
Gasparovic was employed at Moët Hennessy from 2019 to 21 June 2024, where the company claimed she was dismissed for “serious misconduct”.
In a ruling made on 20 January, judges from the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed Moët Hennessy’s legal action, acquitting Gasparovic of defamation.
The judges said that under Article 472 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Moët Hennessy “chose to pursue a series of statements that did not target it, based on a particularly broad interpretation in which it claimed to see an accusation that it had deliberately covered up or even condoned the acts of harassment committed against its former employee”.
The judges called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “accompanied by very substantial claims for damages, which, by their very nature, are intended to inspire and restrict” Gasparovic’s freedom of expression.
“This is despite the fact that the parties are currently involved in a labour dispute, in which Moët Hennessy is communicating with the considerable resources at its disposal,” they added.
The dispute referenced by the judges refers to a separate lawsuit brought forward by Gasparovic, who is suing Moët Hennesy for €1.3m (US$1.5m) in damages and compensation from her firing.
Gasparovic alleges she faced discrimination and psychological harassment during her time at the company, and that she had not been heard internally, so decided to speak out.
In the court documents, Gasparovic claims she was told she should “undergo anti-seduction coaching” and “it’s a prerequisite for getting the job” in regards to her receiving a promotion that had already been promised. She also claimed she was told former CEO Philippe Schaus had allegedly been “uncomfortable with her behaviour towards men”.
A report by The Financial Times last July claimed employees from Moët Hennessy’s wine and spirits division had spoken of a “toxic culture” and an “old boys’ club” mentality within its headquarters in Paris, an accusation Moët Hennessy has strongly denied.
Moët Hennessy challenges allegations
In Moët Hennessy’s defamation case against Gasparovic, the court document stated the company challenged that her remarks on LinkedIn violated regulations applicable to whistleblowers, with the aim of concealing acts of moral and sexual harassment reported by one of its employees to her superiors, including the company’s president.
“It [Hennessy] considered that some of the comments portrayed it as having failed to comply with good professional practice in the implementation and observance of the internal whistleblowing procedure, which constituted conduct contrary to honour and consideration,” the document read.
According to the court documents, a Gasparovic LinkedIn post published in August 2024 had said: “Got harassed, discriminated against and threatened. Whistleblew. But no internal investigation was conducted.”
After the initial post, further posts read: “Have you ever been told that you can’t get a job, ‘your eyes smell like dick’ and ‘you need to perform anti-seduction coaching to get the promised job’, whatever that means.”
Another published post said: “Has your company’s HR department asked you not to go on visits with other men because you are a woman and that you must act ‘like a woman’. No late-night drinks like the others because ‘you know, the rumours…’.”
Moët Hennessy, however, was unable to convince the court in its argument that the LinkedIn posts were linked to defaming the company.
“It is clear that the civil party, a legal entity, is not specifically named in these statements. It is equally clear that the behaviour related to the ‘harassment’ denounced in the messages (inappropriate or obscene comments directed at her, false allegations of flirting) constitutes individual and personal actions attributed to natural persons,” the judges observed.
They found that no party was specifically named in the statements and that the author of the criticised actions was not able to be identified.
“Since Moët Hennessy has failed to demonstrate that it was identifiable from reading the publication in question as the person targeted by the defamatory allegations it contains, the facts have not been established, and Maria Gasparovic will therefore be dismissed from the proceedings.
“It is clear from these elements that the initial proceedings brought against Maria Gasparovic by Moët Hennessy were reckless, to say the least, and that the latter, which could not, in view of the above elements, have been mistaken about the extent of its rights, abused its right to take legal action,” they added.
Moët Hennessy has been ordered to pay €2,000 (US$2,366) to Gasparovic, after initially seeking €50,000 (US$59,173) in damages from Gasparovic “for abuse of direct summons on the basis of Article 472 of the Code of Criminal Procedure” and €18,000 (US$21,302) in costs “under Article 800-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure”.
The Spirits Business reached out to Moët Hennessy for further comment, but the company declined.
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