Negotiations:

University Selection Rounds (2016)

ABHAY ROY AND NINA ROY

For Nina Roy

Team Code: 72
National Law School of India University

Team 72
Brief Facts
Mrs. Nina Roy (nee. Mehra) is a 41 year old famous author. In July 2003, Mrs. Nina was
introduced to Abhay Roy, who was owner of company, MedVie a highly successful private
health insurance company and married him in March 2004. After a few years together, cracks
began to appear in their marriage and they separate from each other after a bitter public feud.

Mrs. Nina in an interview in March 2015 declares that her new book is “like a memoir and
autobiographical in nature”. She publishes her new work titled “True to the End” under the name
Mrs. Nina Mehra. Mrs. Nina in the prologue of her book mentions that the book is based on real
experiences and blames one person for her emotional and mental condition without naming him.
The book allegedly revealed the facts of their troubled marriage and Abhay’s extra marital affair.
After the book got published, Abhay came under media scrutiny and suffered a loss of reputation
and also incurs loss in business. Thus, Abhay wants Mrs. Nina to publicly declare that her work
does not bear any semblance to any real character, failing which he will bring legal proceedings
for defamation against her. The lawyers will represent both the parties in the negotiations.

Laws applicable

Laws applicable include law of tort for defamation and divorce principle under marriage laws.

Interests of Nina Roy (nee. Mehra)

• Maintenance of amicable relationship with the other party.

• Annulment of the marriage with alimony.

• No issue of any statement regarding nature of her latest work "True to the End".

• No emending of any part of her book.

• A public apology or retraction of the statement in which he declared her a liar.

Conflicting Interests of Abhay Roy

• Annulment of the marriage without alimony.

• Issue of Issue of statement that her latest book "True to the End" is a work of pure fiction and
bears no resemblance to any real incidents.

• Emendation of the Prologue in which indirect references are made to him.

• No public apology or retraction of any statement made by him.

Viable and Conciliatory Options

• Divorce is possible if some amount of alimony is given by Mr. Abhay Roy.

• Negotiating the quantum of alimony.
• Emendation of prologue if compensation demanded for loss of business is foregone.

Legal Arguments

 The work in contention never mentioned Mr. Abhay Roy explicitly.

 Alimony to be provided for the maintenance of Mrs. Nina Roy in case of divorce.

Extra Legal Arguments

 There is no direct link between loss of business and the work of the author.
 Maintaining good relations and negotiating is in the interest of both the parties.
 Negative impact on reputation of the author because of the defamatory statement made by
Mr. Abhay.

Relationship Building

Both the party wants to maintain amicable relationship with each-other and wants to end the
relationship in mature and non-controversial way.

Issues in Settlement

• Whether annulment of marriage will be accompanied by alimony and if yes then by what
amount.

• Whether there will be any statement by Mrs. Nina regarding the nature of her book "True to the
End".

• Whether would be there any emends in the text of her book "True to the End".

Range in Settlement

• Annulment of marriage without any alimony provided by Mr. Abhay along with issue of
statement that Mrs.Nina’s book "True to the End" is a work of pure fiction and emendation in the
prologue of the same.

• Annulment of marriage with alimony provided by Mr. Abhay along with no issue of statement
regarding the nature of Mrs. Nina’s book "True to the End" nor any emendation of the same.