In November 2019, a High Court jury awarded Aer Lingus pilot Pádraig Higgins €387,000 in damages after he was found to have been “very seriously” defamed by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) in a series of emails sent to a handful of people. On appeal last year, the sum was slashed to €76,500, a fraction of the original payout. Did the jury really get it so wrong or was the Court of Appeal too quick to interfere and substitute its own view? That question is to go before the Supreme Court in an appeal that could have far-reaching consequences for…