Cases

Moss v Channel Five Broadcasting Ltd

Facts

The Claimant, Kate Moss, brought proceedings over a television programme broadcast by the Defendant in January 2005 which she contended alleged that, in 2001, she had consumed so much cocaine that she ended up in a coma. After commencing libel proceedings, further allegations of cocaine use appeared in The Daily Mirror. A week after the Mirror allegations were published the Claimant issued a public statement apologising for her actions. In its defence, the Defendant pleaded justification of the meaning that the Claimant was a "serious cocaine abuser" and relied on the 2001 incident, the Mirror incident and the Claimant's apparent admission in her apology. The Claimant applied to strike out the Defendant's meaning on the basis that she had made a specific complaint in relation to the 2001 incident and that the Defendant was impermissibly seeking to defend a general meaning.

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