Cases

Campbell-James v Guardian Media Group plc

Held

The Judge considered the allegation to be very serious: "anyone who truly bore a degree of responsibility for such atrocious abuse of power, even indirectly, would rightly be reviled and made the subject of criminal charges or, at least, military discipline." He noted Col Campbell-James's distress at being accused of something which he found "personally abhorrent". There was solid evidence before the court of a serious security risk to Col Campbell-James and his family following the article. The Guardian was criticised for waiting 3 months before publishing an apology and correction, when there should have been "an immediate and generous acknowledgement of error". Its attitude was described as "remarkably casual". Eady J considered £90,000 to be the correct notional starting point for damages which would have been awarded at trial and 35% to be the right reduction for the offer of amends and apology, leading to an award of £58,500. The Claimant was awarded his costs of the cla

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