27 Aug 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Singer Lily Allen’s half-sister has launched legal action against Now magazine over an article about her famous relative. Gala Talbott is suing the publication’s owner IPC Media, seeking libel damages of up to £15,000.
The nineteen-year-old claims that an article entitled “Lily’s Heartache over Secret Sister” made false allegations about the relationship between the two women. She said the story was distressing and embarrassing, and that it had damaged her reputation. In addition to her libel claim Talbott is seeking an injunction banning any repetition of the same allegations.
27 Jul 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
The first libel case in the new Supreme Court, Joseph v Spiller was heard on 26-27 July.
The case concerns Motown tribute act, the Gillettes, who sued after their former agent Jason Spiller posted on his website that the band were not professional and that they consider contractual terms and conditions to “hold no water in legal terms”.
William Bennett, representing Craig Joseph, a singer for the group who arranged their bookings, has argued that a “fair comment” defence should be rejected because the “comment” related to a false fact and no reference was made in the post to the truthful facts upon which the comment was based. In contrast lawyers for the agent, Spiller, contended that the false fact was not materially detrimental to Joseph and thus the defence should not fail. He further appealed to the justices to clarify and simplify the meaning of the “fair comment” defence, including renaming it “comment” to avoid misleading juries, since the defence protects both fair and unfair comments equally. A ruling, which could have serious effect on future definitions of fair comment, is expected in August or early September.
27 Jul 2010 | News and features
The whistleblowers’ website goes mainstream — reconfiguring ideas of journalism, transparency, openness and security in the internet age. Jillian C York reports
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23 Jul 2010 | News and features
Blogger and political activist Johanna Kaschke has had her libel case against fellow blogger’s John Gray and Alex Hilton struck out today
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