Cases

Dell'Olio v Associated Newspapers Ltd

Facts

C, a well-known public figure, sued for libel in respect of a Daily Mail article of 30 April 2011 headed 'Return of the man-eater' which concerned her affair with Sir Trevor Nunn. C's letter of claim complained that the article depicted her as a serial gold-digger who had 'deliberately set out to snare herself a wealthy man by making their adulterous affair public thereby destroying his marriage for her own personal gain.'  After D in correspondence disputed this meaning, C sued complaining of a meaning that she was, or was reasonably suspected of being  'a serial gold digger  who cynically seeks out relationships with men not for genuine emotional reasons but because they are millionaires and therefore capable of funding her conspicuously lavish and ostentatious lifestyle.'

D applied for a ruling that the words were incapable of bearing this meaning, and for the dismissal of the action. It was accepted that some other meaning might be derived from the words, but it was argued that no meaning had been identified that C wished to complain of and which crossed the threshold of seriousness identified in Thornton v Telegraph Media Group (no 2).

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