Cases

Nail v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Others (CA)

Held

Appeal dismissed. s.3(5) of the 1996 Act requires the judge to determine compensation on the usual principles applied in defamation cases. He is not required to speculate what a putative jury might award. If an early unqualified offer to make amends is made and accepted and an agreed apology published, this is bound to be substantial mitigation. The judge's use of the word "rewarded" was superficially open to misinterpretation but there was no distinction between the inevitable mitigation of using the procedure and a "reward" for using it, provided the mitigating factors are not brought into play twice. The Judge had not applied a double discount. He had made his assessments on conventional principles and in amounts that were not so low to justify interference by the Court of Appeal.

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