Cases

Henderson v The London Borough of Hackney & The Learning Trust

Held

(1) Dismissing C's application: D2 should not be deprived of the opportunity of arguing a s.5 defence at trial on the basis that the reference to "sexual harassment" could be said to add a separate and distinct sting to the allegations.

(2) The action should  be struck out. As a matter of pleading practice, allegations of malice must go beyond that which is equivocal or merely neutral. Mere assertion will not do. A claimant may not proceed simply in the hope that something will turn up if the defendant chooses to go into the witness box, or that he will make an admission in cross-examination. It was not right that a judge should presume that formulaic assertions would be provable at trial. Where malice is alleged against a corporate entity, the individual person or persons acting on its behalf and who are said to have been malicious as individuals must be clearly identified. Publication was plainly on an occasion of qualified privilege. On the facts it was quite unrealistic to suggest that the facts were more consistent with malice than with its absence and there was no solid basis for pleading that D2's employee had a dominant motive to give vent to her personal spite and ill will towards C.

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