The discrepancy between personal injury & defamation damages is unacceptable, says Diane Parker
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
It would be surprising to meet anyone growing up in Britain who had not used or at least heard this phrase in their school playgrounds, at some point in their childhood.
And of course, it isn’t true. The human body heals from physical trauma quickly and physical pain is often quickly forgotten (a mechanism I’m sure exists to ensure that women have more than one child). On the other hand, a lot of us will have unhappy memories of school bully taunts and name calling that may have affected our psyches for years.
Until now, English law has recognised that both physical trauma and damage to reputation can cause harm and has created mechanisms to ensure the injured party, who can never recover what has been lost, can at least recover financial recompense for the injury sustained.
Class divide?
However, there is a large discrepancy that already exists between the
