Civil way: 24 January 2014

REPUTABLE ACT

In the writer’s crazier dreams, he is libelled by a national newspaper and falsely imprisoned in a supermarket on the same day as consolation for the poor return on fixed rate savings accounts. The dreams of the media have been for freer speech and whilst, post- Leveson , it seems to be taking greater care, editors are blessing rather than cursing the Defamation Act 2013 which was commenced on 1 January 2014 in England and Wales by SI 2013/3027. Here’s our libel free tour of the legislative changes.

Seriously There will be no defamation unless the publication caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the claimant’s reputation. For a body that trades for profit, serious financial loss must have been caused or be likely in order to qualify as serious harm. Trivial claims were already susceptible to strike out but the bar may now have been raised with the introduction of serious harm.

Defence swap