Cases

Brent Walker Group Plc v Time Out Ltd

Facts

Time Out and one of its journalists were sued for libel in two articles reflecting adversely on the conduct of first plaintiff and its chairman, the second plaintiff. The defendants pleaded fair comment relying, among other things, on statements allegedly made by prosecution witnesses in a 1956 criminal trial at which the chairman had been convicted of theft, and at other trials involving alleged associates of the chairman. The plaintiffs applied to strike out these parts of the defence on the grounds that the statements in question had not been included or referred to in the articles complained of, nor did the defendants allege that they were true; they could not therefore form a legitimate part of a fair comment defence. Michael Beloff QC, sitting as a deputy judge, reversed the master's decision and struck the passages out. The defendants appealed, contending that reliance on the witnesses' statements was legitimate as they had been made in court, and hence on a privileged occasion.

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