Cases

Defamation – s.1 Defamation Act 2013 – serious harm to reputation – causation - damages The Court of Appeal allowed Mr Fox’s appeal in part against the decisions of Collins Rice J on liability and damages ([2024] EWHC 146 (KB); [2024] EWHC 956 (KB)). So far as concerned Mr Fox’s counterclaims, the Court held that the judge had made material errors of law in her approach to causation of serious harm and was wrong to find that Mr Fox had not suffered serious harm to his reputation and remitted those claims for retrial in the High Court on the defences that had not been tried. In relation to Mr Blake’s and Mr Seymour’s claims, the Court dismissed the appeal on serious harm but reduced the damages awarded to the claimants from £90,000 to £45,000 each.