Cases

GKR Karate v Yorkshire Post Ltd

Held

(1) The judge was entitled to make the order, and was right to do so. Trial of privilege and malice as preliminary issues served the overriding objective by offering the prospect of substantial savings in time and expense. (2) The existence or otherwise of privilege was to be determined in the light of all the circumstances prevailing at the time of publication, in so far as those were known to the Defendant. Evidence as to what could have been discovered had further or other inquiries been made was irrelevant. So was evidence as to the objective reliability of the Defendants' source, and the actual truth or falsity of the allegations. The relevant question was whether the Defendants behaved as reasonable and responsible journalists in the light of what was known to them at the time of publication.

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