Kate Winslet wins libel apology ruling

Statements in Open Court available under offer of amends regime

Kate Winslet was yesterday permitted to make a statement in open court as part of an Offer of Amends settlement. She sought permission to make the unilateral statement following what she regarded as an insufficient apology by the newspaper.

The Daily Mail published an article in January entitled “Should Kate Winslet win an Oscar for the world’s most irritating actress?”. Following an unqualified offer to make amends, it published an apology in September accepting that Ms Winslet “had not been duplicitous in making her comments or seeking to deliberately mislead about her exercise regime”. 

The actress however complained that the apology did not address the meaning over which she complained (that she had publicly lied about her exercise regime) and that the size and prominence of the apology was inadequate. She therefore sought permission to make a unilateral statement in open court.

On Tuesday, Eady J granted permission, stating “I see no injustice to the Defendant in permitting the Claimant to make the statement… in an attempt to draw the Defendant’s apology to the attention of rather more of the original readers of the article than would be achieved by the modest announcement made in the Daily Mail.”

Ms Winslet had previously accepted compensation of £25,000.

5RB’s David Sherborne (and earlier Matthew Nicklin) (instructed by Schillings) acted for the Claimant and Mark Warby QC (instructed by Foot Anstey) acted for the Defendant.

Click here for the 5RB.com case report and full judgment.

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