‘(1) At common law, a statement is defamatory of the claimant if, but only if, (a) it imputes conduct which would tend to lower the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking people generally, and (b) the imputation crosses the common law threshold of seriousness, which is that it ‘[substantially] affects in an adverse manner the attitude of other people towards him or has a tendency so to do’: Thornton v Telegraph Media Group Ltd [2010] EWHC 1414 (QB) [2011] 1 WLR 1985 [96] (Tugendhat J).
(2) ‘Although the word ‘affects’ in this formulation might suggest otherwise, it is not necessary to establish that the attitude of any individual person towards the claimant has in fact been adversely affected to a substantial extent, or at all. It is only necessary to prove that the meaning conveyed by the words has a tendency to cause such a consequence.’ Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd [2015] EWHC 2242 (QB) [2016] QB 402 [15(5)].
Judges:
Warby J
Citations:
[2019] EWHC 1235 (QB)
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Wright v Granath QBD 16-Jan-2020
Defamation across borders – Jurisdiction
The claimant began an action for defamation in an online publication. The Norwegian resident defendant had begun an action there seeking a declaration negating liability. The Court was now asked by the defendant whether under Lugano, the UK action . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Defamation
Updated: 15 October 2022; Ref: scu.638203
