Articles in consecutive issues of The Sunday Mirror accused the plaintiff of pimping for the KGB, organising sex with prostitutes for visiting British businessmen and then blackmailing them. The defendants pleaded justification. The plaintiff conceded in evidence that he was a persistent womaniser, but denied procuring prostitutes, though a tape of a conversation with a journalist in which the plaintiff was apparently arranging an assignation between the journalist and a prostitute was introduced in evidence (the plaintiff’s explanation being that he was either drunk or fantasising). The defendants called no evidence and the judge withdrew from the jury such parts of the plea of justification as suggested contact with the KGB.
Held: The Court reduced the jury’s award of pounds 100,000 to pounds 40,000, saying the jury must have concluded that the charge of procuring prostitutes was made out in part and that there were other matters which went to reduce the damages. (Hirst LJ) ‘I ask the same question as that asked by Neill LJ in Rantzen, namely could a reasonable jury have thought that this award was necessary to compensate the plaintiff and to re-establish his reputation? In my judgment, grave though the libel is, and grave though the aggravation has been, the answer to that question is decisively no. First, I can see no justification for an award which is comparable with Rantzen, approximately double the awards either approved or substituted by the Court of Appeal in Houston and [Kiam] v Neill, and no less than four times the award substituted in John. Secondly, it is in my judgment out of all proportion to personal injury awards of a comparable amount, which embrace such very serious injuries as paraplegia and total blindness; these personal injuries awards . . do not of course establish a scale in the libel field, but I feel sure that, had that comparison been available to the jury in the present case (as it would be today in the post-John era), they would not have awarded anything like pounds 100,000, even if the plaintiff had enjoyed an unblemished reputation. Thirdly, when the material in reduction of damages is also taken into account (as of course it must be) the award seems to me still more gravely disproportionate to the injury caused’.
Judges:
Hirst LJ
Citations:
[1996] EWCA Civ 1186, [1997] EMLR 233, [1997] QB 586
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – John v MGN Ltd CA 12-Dec-1995
Defamation – Large Damages Awards
MGN appealed as to the level of damages awarded against it namely pounds 350,000 damages, comprising pounds 75,000 compensatory damages and pounds 275,000 exemplary damages. The newspaper contended that as a matter of principle there is no scope in . .
Cited by:
Cited – Kiam v MGN Ltd CA 28-Jan-2002
Where a court regards a jury award in a defamation case as excessive, a ‘proper’ award can be substituted for it is not whatever sum court thinks appropriate, wholly uninfluenced by jury’s view, but the highest award which a jury could reasonably . .
Cited – Nail v Jones, Harper Collins Publications Ltd; Nail v News Group Newspapers Ltd, Wade etc QBD 26-Mar-2004
The claimant was upset by an article published by the defendant making false allegations that he had behaved in a sexually profligate manner many years earlier. When it was substantially repeated he sued.
Held: The words were defamatory. An . .
Cited – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
Cited – Turner v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another CA 16-May-2006
Application to determine compensation for admitted defamation.
Keene LJ considered both Pamplin and Burstein as bases for reliance upon other ‘misconduct’ of a claimant to reduce damages: ‘it needs to be borne in mind that the principle of . .
Cited – Dhir v Saddler QBD 6-Dec-2017
Slander damages reduced for conduct
Claim in slander. The defendant was said, at a church meeting to have accused the client of threatening to slit her throat. The defendant argued that the audience of 80 was not large enough.
Held: ‘the authorities demonstrate that it is the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Defamation, Damages
Updated: 04 November 2022; Ref: scu.141054
