House of Lords on Defamation of Company
Jameel and another v Wall Street Journal Europe Sprl
[2006] UKHL 44
11 October 2006
Daily Law Notes Summary
Publishers of an article of clear public interest were not to be
denied the protection of qualified privilege on the narrow ground
that, despite having taken reasonable steps to verify its
contents, they failed to delay publication to enable the claimants
to respond. The common law rule entitling a trading company in
defamation proceedings to rely on the presumption of damage
without proving special damage was not abrogated by art 10 of the
European Convention on Human Rights and required no revision.