The spokesman's reaction
Dominique Giroud has been acquitted by the courts in the so-called St-Saphorin case. The Vaud court was able to establish that the bottles complied with the regulations. Dominique Giroud's spokesman, Marc Comina, explains what action his client will take in response to the court's decision.
Do you have an estimate of the commercial damage caused to Giroud's company by the unproven affair involving the blending of Saint-Saphorin wines?
Giroud Vins was the subject of an independent valuation two years before the media campaign against Dominique Giroud was launched. At the time, the experts estimated the value of the group at over CHF 60 million. Today, due to the disproportionate and relentless media coverage, particularly from the RTS his company had to cease trading. The stigma attached to Dominique Giroud and his company was so great that the mere mention of their name drove customers away. As a result, the value of Giroud Vins today is virtually zero. I'll leave you to do the maths. To this must be added the moral damage to him and to Giroud Vins. The damage is therefore considerable, and Dominique Giroud will be calling to account those who triggered the unprecedented media frenzy we have seen over the past year.
Will you be taking legal action against competitors, commentators or the media in general for presenting cutting as a proven fact?
Today, Dominique Giroud has mixed feelings. On the one hand, he is satisfied that his integrity as a winegrower has been restored. On the other, he is still suffering the enormous economic consequences of the media frenzy of the last twelve months, and his reputation remains seriously damaged. Despite the court ruling that puts an end to the so-called St-Saphorin affair, he will not give up. He intends to hold to account those who made the false accusations against his winemaking practices, in particular the RTS which has played a key role in the whole affair by giving a biased and unqualified version, leaving nothing but room for suspicion and discredit. Dominique Giroud's lawyers are currently in discussions with a number of media outlets to interrupt the statute of limitations and consider settlement agreements. As far as possible, these steps are being taken on an amicable basis, but faced with the unwillingness of some of the parties involved, Dominique Giroud may have no choice but to quickly take legal action to interrupt the statute of limitations, in particular by issuing payment orders.
Are you going to ask for all abusive references to the case on the web to be removed?
For several months now, when a journalist has wrongly accused him of something, Dominique Giroud has systematically intervened to have it corrected. There are several examples of these interventions on the website he launched yesterday www.dominique-giroud.com. In future, this control will be carried out even more strictly. After today's court ruling, Dominique Giroud can no longer accept being accused of faults he did not commit.
