The written answer to two Parliamentary Questions on Tuesday 21 February 2023 provides hope for imminent publication of the long awaited the General Scheme of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill, including the introduction of an anti-SLAPP mechanism. Continue reading
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Tag: SLAPPs (Page 1 of 2)
Unveiling the report of last autumn’s Conduct in Disputes Thematic Review (the report), SRA chief executive Paul Philip said that some firms needed to do more and that the regulator would be redoubling its efforts to make sure its message on SLAPPs (strategic litigation against public participation) got through. This sentiment is as disappointing as it is predictable. But Philip’s statement seems to be at odds with what should have been the report’s core finding: namely that talk of SLAPPS is greatly exaggerated. Continue reading
On 16 October 2017, Daphne Galizia, Malta’s top investigative journalist, was assassinated when a car bomb planted under her seat exploded. Her work focused on corruption and organised crime, and she was facing more than 40 civil defamation lawsuits and five criminal defamation cases at the time of her death. Most of these were brought by Maltese government officials and businessmen. Continue reading
SLAPPs, Serious Harm, and the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 – Ciaran O’Shiel and Tim Carson
While coverage of strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs, has been amplified by several high-profile defamation actions in the UK and US in recent months, public discourse on the topic has been gathering pace since the assassination, in October 2017, of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who, at the time of her death, had 47 open defamation cases in progress against her. Continue reading
Just what exactly is the Government proposing in its recently published Response to the Call for Evidence on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)? As one commentator on this forum has pointed out, the ‘devil is in the detail’ of the Response, and the suggested reforms raise ‘more questions than answers’. This is not to question the existence of SLAPPs, or to cast aspersions on the sudden willingness for public debate on the issue. Continue reading
Back in March, exercising rare concern for those exploited by the super-rich, the government issued an ‘urgent call for evidence’ that promised, based upon ‘third party and anecdotal evidence’ [42], ‘quick and effective’ action against Strategic Litigation against Public Participation (“SLAPPs”). Continue reading
On 20 July 2022 the Government published its response to the call for evidence on Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation [pdf] with a Foreword by Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab. This document summarises the evidence on each of the 45 questions posed in the “Call for Evidence” and sets out the Government response to each one. It is a disappointing document which includes no clear concrete proposals and is, in important respects, wholly inadequate. Continue reading
In his post of 25 May 2022 Iain Wilson asked whether Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are “a real problem or a defendant’s wildcard”. As co-chairs of the UK Working Group on SLAPPs we are regularly confronted with the all-too real effects of SLAPPs on public watchdogs – those, such as journalists and activists, whose role it is to hold the powerful to account. The problem with responding to Iain Wilson’s claims of exaggeration, however, is that we ultimately have to address a counterfactual: what information would have been published had it not been subject to a SLAPP? Continue reading
In October and November last year I wrote an article for The Conversation and Inforrm on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs. Since then I have been invited to join the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on SLAPPs, I have given oral and written evidence to a Justice Committee on SLAPPs, and I have given my views on SLAPPs to the Ministry of Justice in response to its Call for Evidence. Continue reading
A fair and accessible justice system, and an active and inquiring media, lie at the heart of our democracy. Ensuring that every citizen has recourse to civil litigation, where appropriate, is part of a just society. Continue reading
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