On 6 June 2019, judgment in an appeal brought by Dr Salman Butt against the Home Secretary was handed down by the Court of Appeal ([2019] EWCA Civ 933). The case concerned an action in libel which had arisen from the publication of a press release on the government’s Prevent policy. Read the rest of this entry »
Case Law: Butt v Home Secretary, Honest Opinion Defence Clarified – Samuel Rowe
10 07 2019Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Caselaw, Libel
Can you be liable for defamation for what other people write on your Facebook page? Australian court says: maybe – Michael Douglas
27 06 2019
When you go online and write something nasty about a person, or even a small business, you risk being sued for defamation.mBut if someone else goes online and writes something nasty about a person on your social media page, can you be held liable even though you didn’t write it? Depending on who you are: maybe. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Michael Douglas, The Conversation
Categories : Australia, Libel
Case Law: Kennedy v National Trust for Scotland: No pictures, please, Scotland versus England as a forum for defamation cases – Dan Tench, Emma Boffey, Graeme MacLeod and Jo Clark
18 06 2019
The Court of Appeal in England & Wales has handed down its judgment in the matter of Howard Kennedy v The National Trust for Scotland [2019] EWCA Civ 648, on appeal from the decision of Sir David Eady, sitting as a judge of the High Court on the Queen’s Bench Division Media and Communications List. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Caselaw, Libel, Scotland
Case Law: Spicer v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, Headlines must be read in context – Oscar Davies
15 06 2019
In the case of Spicer v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2019] EWHC 1439 (QB) Warby J held that an article’s headline, however defamatory, must be read in context, with the text of the article, in order to arrive at the natural and ordinary meaning. The judgment provides a useful exposition of the ‘bane and antidote’ principle. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Oscar Davies
Categories : Caselaw, Libel
Case Law: Serafin v Malkiewicz, Public Interest Defence Considered Again, And Judicial Unfairness – Samuel Rowe
14 06 2019
On 17 May 2019, the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in Serafin v Malkiewicz & Ors ([2019] EWCA Civ 852). The appeal concerned, amongst other things, the correct application of the ‘public interest’ defence under s.4 of the Defamation Act 2013. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Public Interest, Samuel Rowe
Categories : Libel
Case Law: Lachaux v Independent Print, Supreme Court abolished common law presumption of damage in libel cases – Mathilde Groppo
13 06 2019
The Supreme Court yesterday handed down its long awaited judgment in Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd & Anor [2019] UKSC 27. As predicted by various commentators giving a preview of the case (including in my previous post), the five Supreme Court judges (Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption, Lord Hodge and Lord Briggs) clarified the applicable law, but unanimously dismissed the appeals against the Court of Appeal decision ([2017] EWCA Civ 1334) on the facts. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Mathilde Groppo
Categories : Libel
News: Lachaux v Independent Print, Supreme Court dismisses appeal but restores Judge’s analysis of “serious harm”
12 06 2019
The Supreme Court today handed down its long awaited judgment in the case of Lachaux v Independent Print ([2019] UKSC 27). The appeal was dismissed on the facts but the Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s interpretation of the “serious harm” test in s.1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013, preferring the analysis of Warby J at first instance. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Lachaux, Serious Harm, Supreme Court
Categories : Libel
Defamation claims in 2018 up by 70%, the highest number for nine years, will Lachaux reverse the trend?
11 06 2019
In advance of tomorrow’s eagerly awaited Supreme Court “serious harm” decision in Lachaux v Independent Print, the 2018 Judicial Statistics show, for the second year running, a substantial increase in the number of issued defamation claims. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Statistics
Categories : Libel
Case Law, South Africa: Manuel v Economic Freedom Fighters, The legal consequences of fake news – Dario Milo
6 06 2019
“Fake news” – a term ironically made popular by Donald Trump – is a real problem for our democracy. This is not news which the publisher reasonably believes to be true because, for example, steps have been taken to verify the information. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Dario Milo, Remedies
Categories : Caselaw, Libel, South Africa
Case Law, Australia: Raynor v Murray, Torrid times at the Watermark flats – Gabrielle Hunter
4 06 2019
In the case of Raynor v Murray ([2019] NSWDC 189) the District Court of NSW ordered Patricia Murray, a tenant of Manly residential flats known as “Watermark”, to pay damages of $120,000 to the chairman of the building’s strata committee for a defamatory email regarding an unlocked mailbox. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Gazette of Law and Journalism
Categories : Australia, Caselaw, Libel
