Supreme Court to hear appeal on "serious harm" threshold in defamation cases

The Supreme Court has granted the unsuccessful defendants in Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1327 permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal's rulings regarding the application of section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013.

Section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013 states that a statement is not defamatory unless it is publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the claimant's reputation.  Until the Court of Appeal's decision last year, debate had been raging about whether the provision represented a sea change in defamation law or a mere codification of existing common law principles.  The Supreme Court's decision to allow a further appeal will mean that this debate is likely to continue for another year.

Click here to read our blog on last year's decision.