This is proving to be quite a year for celebrity libel. First, Johnny Depp and now the turn of Rebecca Vardy. She is bringing libel proceedings against Coleen Rooney arising from the now infamous ‘Wagatha Christie” Instagram post accusing Ms Vardy of being responsible for leaking stories about Ms Rooney to The Sun. Continue reading
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Category: Libel (Page 1 of 85)
On 19 November 2020, Warby J heard the trial of preliminary issue on meaning in Vardy v Rooney, handing down judgment the following day, 20 November 2020 [2020] EWHC 3156 (QB). Continue reading
On 30 October 2020 Mr Justice Warby handed down the much anticipated judgment in Gubarev v Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd [2020] EWHC 2912 (QB). The Claimants brought a claim for libel arising out of the publication by Buzzfeed of the so-called “Trump Dossier”. Continue reading
Parliament decided to legislate in relation to corporate libel claimants by tackling head on the presumption of harm. By s.1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013, Parliament established the well-known serious harm test: “A statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to reputation”. By s1.(2), it was provided that “harm to the reputation of a body that trades for profit is not serious harm unless it has caused or is likely to cause serious financial loss”. Continue reading
In June 1994 a libel trial began in the Royal Courts of Justice in London that would ultimately become the longest case in English legal history. Lasting 313 days, it pitted McDonalds, the fast food giant and multi-billion dollar company, against Helen Steel and David Morris, two activists of modest means who had distributed leaflets which were critical of the company. Continue reading
The 1 November 2020 marked the fourth anniversary of the commencement of the Department of Justice’s current review of Ireland’s defamation laws. In late October, a newspaper leader and a blogpost provided updates on where we are on our slow boat to defamation reform. Continue reading
The recent libel judgment handed down in Depp II v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2020] EWHC 2911 (QB) has made headlines around the world and has captured the attention of the public. It has also been a devastating personal blow for Mr Depp. Continue reading
The truth, as Oscar Wilde has Algernon Moncrieff remark to Jack Worthing in Act I of The Importance of Being Ernest, is rarely pure and never simple. Nowhere is this more evident than in a defamation courtroom. At common law, the defence of justification to a claim for defamation averred that the words complained of, in their natural and ordinary meaning, were true in substance and in fact. Continue reading
Courts considering the meaning of a statement in defamation cases in which the publisher is seeking to use the defence that the publication was on a matter of public interest should adopt a flexible approach, according to the authors of the latest edition of Duncan and Neill on Defamation. Continue reading
On 2 November 2020, London’s High Court handed down its hotly anticipated judgment in the high-profile libel case brought by Hollywood actor Johnny Depp over a newspaper article which labelled him a “wife-beater”. Continue reading
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