Cases

Polanski v Conde Nast Publications Ltd (HL)

Facts

The Claimant brought libel proceedings against Vanity Fair over an article that alleged he had shamelessly attempted to seduce a lady in a New York restaurant whilst en route to his wife's funeral following her brutal murder. He obtained permission from Eady J before trial to give evidence by video link (VCF) from France under CPR Part 32.3, on the ground that if he came to this country he would be extradited to the USA, from where he had fled in the 1970s whilst awaiting sentence for a criminal conviction. The Court of Appeal discharged the order on the basis that the general policy of the courts should be to discourage litigants from escaping the normal processes of the law rather than to facilitate this. They also held that the assumption on which the Judge's order had been made, namely that if VCF evidence were refused the Claimant's witness statement could have gone in anyway as hearsay evidence, was wrong. The Claimant appealed to the House of Lords.

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