Cases
of Interest
SALLY FARMILOE v (1) ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS LTD (2) ALEXIS PARR
The television presenter and actress settled her libel action against
the publisher of the The Mail on Sunday and a freelance journalist. The
Defendants apologised and paid the Claimant damages and her costs and
a statement was made in open court by the parties, a summary of which
was published in The Mail on Sunday. The article in respect of which the
action was commenced purported to be an exclusive interview with the Claimant
in which she described her feelings for Lord Jeffrey Archer. In fact,
the article contained material that the Claimant had told the Second Defendant
in confidence, not intending it to be published, or which had been overheard.
The Claimant had been upset by the article and by the imputation that
she had been willing to discuss her private life in a newspaper.
JACOB ECCLESTONE v (1) NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS (2) JOHN CLIFFORD FOSTER
The Claimant, formerly the Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists ('NUJ'), sued the NUJ and its General Secretary for an article published in the NUJ's magazine 'The Journalist' and two further articles circulated which alleged that he had sought to undermine successive General Secretaries of the NUJ. Further accusations supported this serious disciplinary allegation and the Claimant felt that the purpose of these allegations was to destroy his career at the NUJ and to remove his chances of re-election to the post of Deputy General Secretary. The Defendants did not apologise or undertake not to republish the allegations but did pay £75,000 into court, which the Claimant accepted.
LYNN
WALKER v NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE AND JOURNAL LTD
The Claimant, formerly a businesswoman in North-East England, resolved
her libel action against the Defendant who had published a number of articles
in the 'Sunday Sun' and the 'Evening Chronicle' in which it was alleged
that she had pursued a 'Fatal Attraction' campaign of revenge against
her former lover, Bob Moncur, including the attempted murder of his wife.
The Defendant apologised to the Claimant and accepted that none of the
allegations were true. The parties made a Statement in Open Court which
the Defendant undertook to report in the 'Sunday Sun' and the 'Evening
Chronicle' and the Defendant paid the Claimant damages and her costs.
TURKINGTON & ORS (PRACTISING AS McCARTAN TURKINGTON BREEN) v
TIMES NEWSPAPERS LTD
The House of Lords heard this appeal from the Court of Appeal on whether
a press conference was a public meeting within the meaning of s.7 and
Sch.1 para.9 Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 (which corresponds
with s.7 Defamation Act 1952) and whether a part of an article which included
a passage from a press release not read aloud at the meeting was a report
of the proceedings of a public meeting. The House of Lords held that a
press conference was a meeting within the meaning of the Act and that
the contents of the press release were as much a part of the proceedings
of the press conference as if they had been read aloud during the meeting.
Accordingly, fair and accurate reports of the press conference and the
press release were privileged.