Defamation Flashcards
defamation definition
the act of publishing a statement which causes/is likely to cause ‘serious harm’ to a person’s reputation
- exposing a person to hatred/ridicule/contempt
- cause them to be shunned/avoided
- lowering them in the eyes of right thinking members of society
- dispraging them in a profession/business
defamation law
defamation act 2013 and 1996
what must a claimant prove to be successful?
the published statement has/is likely to cause serious harm to his/her reputation
- companies must prove financial loss
inference
statement with secondary meaning which can be understood without special knowledge
innuendo
statement which may seem harmless but is defamatory to those with special knowledge
libel
defamatory statement that is written or in any other permanent form (online or social media)
slander
defamatory statement that is spoken
single publication rule
when bringing an action for defamation, must do it within one year of 1st publication, can only sue for 1st not subsequent publications
Introduced in section 8 of defamation act 2013
group defamation
smaller the group, higher the risk of group defamation
3 key things that prove defamation
- publication is defamatory
- reasonably understood to be him/her by those acquainted with them
- published to a third party
- does not need to be proven true or false
repetition of libel
treated as a fresh publication each time - no defence for repeating what someone else has published
truth defence
statement of facts
- only need to prove most damaging as ‘substantially true’ and proveable with evidence
- on the balance of probabilities
honest opinion defence
honestly held opinion in good faith based on proveable true facts
- must be recogniseable as opinion
absolute privilege defence
fair, accurate, contemporaneous reports of court reports/trials/inquiries held in public in UK
qualified privilege defence
fair and accurate (NOT contemporaneous) reports of past trials/parliament proceedings/meetings without malice and in public interest
P1 and P2 schedule 1 defamation act 1996
part 1 - covers statements having qualified privilege without explanation or contradiction
part 2 - covers statements privileged subject to explanation or contradiction
section 1 defamation act 1996 ‘innocent dissemination’ defence
covers live broadcasts where they had taken all reasonable care and had no reason to believe comment would be made
section 5 defamation act 2013 defence
covers moderated comments posted online
- as long as they are taken down as soon as they notice
- they are still held liable if the poster cannot be found or if the website does not follow procedures
‘accord and satisfaction’ defence
if the issue has already been disposed of and an agreement has been made, claimant must accept apology and apology must be published
‘leave and licence’ defence
claimant suing had previously agreed to publication