SERIOUS HARM TO REPUTATION NECESSARY

A claimant relying on section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 must prove the publication of a statement caused or was likely to cause serious harm to their reputation, as well as proving it was defamatory. The Supreme Court said in Lachaux v Independent Print [2019] UKSC 27 this might require more than the 'inherent tendency' of the words used, including an investigation into the number of people to whom it was published or people among who the claimant had no reputation to be harmed. 8 July 2019