Defamation
XXXX (known as Jean Hatchet) v Varma [2021] EWHC 1709 (QB), [2021] All ER (D) 01 (Jul)
Where judgment in default had been entered in respect of the claimant feminist campaigner’s defamation claim, the Queen’s Bench Division held that an award of £45,000 in general compensatory damages was appropriate, which included an element of aggravated damages for the defendant’s failure to acknowledge the publication, withdraw the same or to make any apology. The court was satisfied that the defamatory meaning pleaded in the case represented a reasonable interpretation of the offending words, concerning allegations in relation to the claimant and a charity. Among other things, the court held that the ‘percolation phenomenon’, namely ‘where scandalous stories published on the internet might spread far beyond their immediate publishees’, was a legitimate factor to take into account in the assessment of general damages, and that the award had to be such as to deter the defendant, and others who had retweeted the tweets (or other tweets relying on the information in them), from publishing
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