A High Court Judge has granted businessman Walter Soriano an injunction to enforce undertakings made by a US blogger not to repeat defamatory allegations. Mr Soriano previously brought libel proceedings against Richard Silverstein after he published allegations about him on his blog. Mr Soriano successfully applied to serve the libel claim out of the jurisdiction in 2021. The claim was settled, and included an agreement that Mr Silverstein would not make the allegations again or allegations to similar effect.
Following the settlement, Mr Soriano applied for an injunction on the basis that Mr Silverstein had breached undertakings not to repeat the allegations. At the trial, Mr Silverstein had argued that the allegations he made in those tweets, only a few months after the settlement agreement was signed, were not similar to the articles over which he had settled his libel claim.
Mrs Justice Steyn found that tweets published by Mr Silverstein were in breach of the agreement. Delivering judgment on 8 February 2023, the Judge found that there was also “a real and substantial risk of future breaches of the settlement agreement” and ordered a permanent injunction to enforce the undertakings. Mr Silverstein was ordered to pay Mr Soriano’s costs of the claim, including an interim payment of £30,000.
The trial was heard on 7 February 2023 and judgment delivered on 8 February 2023.
The judgment is available here and on Bailii.
5RB’s Ben Hamer acted for the Claimant (instructed by Rechtschaffen Law).
