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A defamatory statement made or conveyed by spoken words, sounds, looks, signs, gestures or in some other non-permanent form, and relating to someone other than the person to whom its relates.
At common law slander is actionable only on proof of special damage except where either (a) it involves a statement that the defendant is guilty of a criminal offence which is punishable by imprisonment; or (b) it involves an allegation of unchastity in a woman; or (c) it disparages the claimant in his office, profession, calling, trade or business.
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This Practice Note has been archived and is for historical purposes only. The defamation costs pilot scheme ended on 31 March 2013. For information on costs budgeting, see: Costs budgeting and costs management—overview.What is it?The Scheme requires parties in defamation proceedings (ie proceedings which include allegations of libel, slander and/or malicious falsehood) to provide the court with a detailed estimate of future base costs ('Costs Budget'). These Costs Budgets are required to be regularly updated by the parties and will then be either approved or disapproved by the court. In effect, they will set the marker for future costs recovery and the court will not depart from an approved Costs Budget without good reason. The purpose of the Scheme is to ensure that the court has sufficient costs information to manage the litigation so that the parties are on an equal footing and the costs incurred by the parties are proportionate to the value of the claim and the reputational issues (and, as from 1 October 2011, public interest issues)...
Malicious falsehood This Practice Note provides an introduction to the tort of malicious falsehood. Unlike a claim for defamation, there is no requirement in a claim for malicious falsehood to prove that the statement complained of is defamatory. Instead, the claimant must prove that: the defendant has published a statement that is untrue; the statement was published maliciously; and, the statement has caused actual pecuniary damage, or falls within the provisions of section 3 of the Defamation Act 1952 (DA 1952). The tort of malicious falsehood is governed by a mixture of statute and common law. The relevant statutory law is contained in DA 1952. The Defamation Act 2013 (DA 2013) contains no provisions relevant to the law of malicious falsehood. Malicious or injurious falsehood (sometimes referred to confusingly as 'trade libel') is not concerned with reputation. It is a separate tort to defamation, which is concerned with the publication of falsehoods which cause or are likely to cause financial damage. Unlike establishing a cause of action in...
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Defamation—training materials These training materials consist of template PowerPoint slides that can be used as the basis of one or more training seminars on defamation law. The training materials reflect the requirements of the Defamation Act 2013 and topics covered include: the distinction between libel and slander; the elements of a defamation claim; damage to reputation and serious harm; publication; defences and remedies. It is anticipated that those providing training will use these slides as a helpful starting point for their presentations and then amend them accordingly to reflect their particular circumstances. The training materials may be customised. Click the link below to download the training presentation. Contents • What is defamation? • Distinction between libel and slander • Elements of a defamation claim • A defamatory statement • Damage to reputation and serious harm • The statement must refer to the claimant • What is publication and who is responsible? • Defences—truth • Defences—honest comment • Defences—absolute privilege • Defences—qualified privilege •...
Claim form (defamation)—the contents The purpose of the claim form The claim form is the document used to start proceedings. It contains information relevant to the proceedings including the court reference number to be used on all subsequent court documents, the parties to the proceedings, what is being claimed, particulars of the claim (including any claim for interest) and contact details for the claimant (generally the claimant’s solicitor). Guidance as to the contents of a claim form generally can be found in the Practice Note: Claim form—the contents. This Precedent provides an containing suggested text for use in relation to a claim for defamation. The form sets out guidance as to the specific points which should be taken into account when completing a claim form for use in such proceedings. This claim form forms part of a suite of Precedents, and should be read in conjunction with the following Precedents: • Particulars of claim (defamation) • Defence (defamation) • Reply (defamation) • Final Order (defamation) In particular,...
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What are the risks of an organisation keeping an internal list of blacklisted companies and/or individuals with whom it does not wish to do business on the basis of information received from third parties or from its own research? In answering this Q&A, we have limited our research to cover data protection, defamation, restrictive agreements in competition law and the Employment Relations Act  1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/493. In conducting our research we have assumed that the organisation is not a public authority or otherwise subject to any public procurement regime. Data protection If the information within the list relates to a living individual, the Data Protection Act 1998 (the DPA 1998) may apply. The DPA 1998, governs the processing of personal data in the UK and it obliges those handling such data to comply with eight data protection principles. For more information, see Practice Note: Data protection—background and key definitions and in particular the sections on Data, Personal data, Processing and Relevant filing system. If...
Is there a risk of a claim for defamation being made against a company as a result of statements made at a company meeting? What defences are available? This Q&A focusses on the situation where the statement made was oral. This considers libel and slander generally, rather than by reference to statements of a certain nature. The starting point is to determine the medium in which the statement was made or communicated. If the statement was spoken or oral, the correct cause of action would be slander. If the statement was written, the correct cause of action would be libel. At the outset, it should be noted that libel and slander proceedings are inherently fact sensitive, with liability hinging on the specific facts of the case. Under the common law, a statement was defamatory where it caused, or was likely to cause, a substantially adverse effect on the claimant’s reputation. However, section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 (DA 2013) requires that a statement have caused,...
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Welcome to this week’s edition of the TMT weekly highlights: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content from across the technology, media and telecoms sectors. These highlights focus on key topics including new technologies, software, cloud computing, internet, outsourcing, music, film & television, publishing, defamation and telecoms.
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Information Law weekly highlights: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content related to laws governing the use and dissemination of information and personal data. Each week these highlights focus on developments in key topics such as data protection, ePrivacy, cybersecurity, breach of confidence, misuse of private information, and defamation. This special edition of the weekly highlights also includes a recap on the yearly highlights of 2024 and key topics to look out for in 2025.
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