Publication of articles caused partners to quit: Algo Legal in ₹1 crore defamation suit against Sequoia, media

In their ₹1 crore defamation suit filed against Sequoia Capital and various media outlets and journalists, Algo Legal and its founder Sandeep Kapoor have claimed that the publication of false news items resulted in the exit of three partners and several lawyers of the firm..The plaint filed before a Bengaluru court stated,"The effect of the per-se defamatory content published by the Defendants can be seen from the fact that three partners of the Plaintiff No 2 have quit/resigned the firm within hours from the publications being surfaced. This further demonstrates that even the partners/employees of the Plaintiff No 2 have lost faith because of the false, incorrect narrative...".As reported earlier, Algo Legal Partners Abhinav Bhalaik, Ankit Guha, Armaan Patkar and Neha Madan left the firm along with their team members..The exodus was apparently prompted by the publication of articles by several media outlets reporting that Sequoia Capital had sent out a letter notifying a select group of its portfolio companies that it has stopped working with Algo Legal and Kapoor, who was former General Counsel of Sequoia..In their plaint, Algo Legal and Kapoor stated that Sequoia had terminated the services of Kapoor on January 31, 2022. On April 28, Algo Legal wrote to Sequoia for a meeting to clear any misunderstandings between them. Before this meeting could take place, the plaint stated, defamatory articles were published by the defendants which tarnished the reputation of Algo Legal and Kapoor. It went on to state,"...termination of the Plaintiff's services had occurred on 31.01.2022, however the same was not published by the Defendants until June 2022. There is no explanation as to why the same was not published for six months and why no verification was undertaken by Defendants from anyone else, from 31.01.2022, prior to publication on 03.06.2022, given that the harm to the Plaintiff's reputation and business was apparent and foreseeable...".Stating that the publication of the articles were "violative of all norms and canons of responsible journalism," the plaint stated that the media had an obligation to approach the person concerned before publishing a story so as to ensure there is no false reporting. Kapoor claimed that he had asked Economic Times journalist Digbijay Mishra to hold off publication of his article as he was tied up with a personal commitment, and had even agreed to a personal meeting with the reporter to clear the air. However, Mishra refused to hold the article and went ahead with its publication.Claiming that the news articles were maliciously motivated, laced with canards and entailed deliberate misrepresentation of facts, Kapoor stated in the plaint that he has been ridiculed and jeered in social circles as a result, and that the good opinion that people have of him has been diminished.Owing to the fiasco, Algo Legal's standing in the market has also been directly impacted, the plaintiffs have stated..Justifying the need for an order granting relief, the plaint stated,"The continuous adverse publicity of the Plaintiffs, who are seen from the eyes of public confidence and faith is destructive of their reputation. It will also result in creating an atmosphere in the form of public opinion wherein the Plaintiffs may not be able to put forward their defence properly and the likelihood of getting a fair trial would be seriously impaired."It further stated that as opposed to apologising and retracting the allegedly false allegations made in the articles, the media outlets are continuing to publish false and malicious allegations..Stating that an offence under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code has been made out, Algo Legal and Kapoor have sought damages to the tune of ₹1 crore.They have also prayed for an order to the media outlets to permanently delete the publications in question and to refrain from any further publication containing the same/similar allegations. The plaintiffs have also sought an unconditional apology from the defendants.Further, they have reserved the right to implead/array any persons, social media platforms, media channels and newspapers who make such allegations in the future..Earlier today, arguments were made before City Civil and Sessions Judge MH Annayyaanavar, who reserved orders in the suit filed by Kapoor and the law firm.Appearing for Sequoia, Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya insisted that he be allowed to argue before an interim order is passed.Representing Algo Legal and Sandeep Kapoor, Senior Advocate Udaya Holla pressed for an interim order and argued,"These funds come here and now making allegations. Is it their argument they will go ahead with defamatory statements...Reputation cannot be sullied. Innuendo is evident.".[Algo Legal defamation suit] I am not here to usurp land, I do my business as per Indian laws: Poovayya for Sequoia.The parties arraigned in the suit included HT Media Limited (owner of Hindustan Times and other publications) Bennett Coleman (owner of Times of India, Economic Times and others), the owners of News18, journalists from these publications, and Twitter.The media companies and other respondents had published news articles reporting that Sequoia Capital had cut ties with Algo Legal after Kapoor apparently threatened some of its portfolio companies.Algo Legal is a law firm founded by Kapoor, who was formerly General Counsel at Sequoia Capital. As per his LinkedIn profile, worked at Sequoia for almost nine years till 2019, before he set up Algo Legal.As per an email, Sequoia informed its portfolio companies that “concerning incidents” involving Algo Legal were found after a recent investigation.