Reference: [1998] EWCA Civ 1626; [2000] EMLR 431
Court: Court of Appeal
Judge: Stuart-Smith, Hirst & Tuckey LJJ
Date of judgment: 28 Oct 1999
Summary: Defamation - libel - newspaper publication - qualified privilege - Reynolds - journalist's sources - whether non-disclosure of sources precludes reliance on privilege
Appearances: Godwin Busuttil (Defendant)
Instructing Solicitors: Eversheds for the Claimant; Farrer & Co for the Defendant
Facts
The claimant, the son of Colonel Gaddafi, brought a libel claim against the defendant over the publication of an article in the Sunday Telegraph in 1995. The defendant pleaded defences of qualified privilege, justification and fair comment. Qualified privilege was struck out. Before the appeal came on for hearing, Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd was decided in the Court of Appeal. The defendant put forward an amended plea of qualified privilege, influenced by the ruling in Reynolds. The claimant objected to this new formulation on the grounds that it did not specify the sources of the material relied on.
Issue
Whether leave to amend to rely on Reynolds qualified privilege should be conditional on the defendant providing further information about its sources.
Held
Leave granted. To impose the conditions sought by the claimant upon the grant of leave to amend would infringe the defendant’s right to protect its sources.
Comment
Media defendants are not precluded from reliance on Reynolds qualified privilege in circumstances in which they wish to withhold identification of their sources.