Cases

Mond & Ors v Mason & Ors

Facts

Letters were sent to the Cs' clients alleging, inter alia, that the Cs had repeatedly mis-sold Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) to their clients and ran an ‘IVA factory’. The letters purported to come from ‘the IVA Council’ (IVAC). Recipients of the letters who responded to IVAC were contacted by D4, a company of which D1 and D3 were directors. D4’s literature repeated many of the claims made in the letters. Following these communications, some of the Cs’ clients defaulted on their IVAs and instead paid D4 to assist them to go bankrupt.

The Cs brought claims for libel, malicious falsehood and causing loss by unlawful means against the Ds. The Ds denied responsiblity for the letters. D1, D3 and D4 claimed to have only an arms length business relationship with the IVAC. D2 admitted being an employee of IVAC but denied involvement in publication of the letters.

The Cs obtained a freezing order and a libel injunction against the Ds and sought to have them continued.

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