Cases

Thornton v Telegraph Media Group Ltd (No 2)

Comment

The judgment contains a valuable analysis of business or professional libels and the essential features of the notion of “defamatory” in this context. More generally, however, there is room for debate as to whether the Judge’s introduction of a “threshold of seriousness” test adds clarity or an unnecessary complication to this aspect of the law. It might be thought that it has always been implicit in the jury’s (or judge’s) task of judging the impact of any matter complained of to exclude from their assessment of what is defamatory words that are no more than “exhibitions of bad manners or discourtesy”, to use Lord Atkin’s phrase. The Judge gave Dr Thornton permission to appeal on the basis that she had a real prospect of success, but it is understood that an appeal is not to be pursued. Consideration of these issues by a higher court will therefore have to wait for another day.

Areas of work

Defamation
Media Law

Also