Summary

His Highness Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdullah Al Alaoui of Morocco brought a defamation claim against Elaph Publishing Limited for an article published on the company’s news website in October 2014. The parties appealed, and cross-appealed, a decision in the High Court on an application for strike out/summary judgment, and an application to amend the claim.

The Court of Appeal considered two questions:

(1) Whether the amended meaning of the words complained of were capable of being defamatory; and,

(2) Whether it is permissible to introduce a claim for breach of the Data Protection Act 1998, as an alternative where a Defamation claim is likely to fail.

 

The cases mentioned, or made reference to, in this podcast are:

 Modi v Clarke [2011] EWCA Civ 937

Lingens v Austria (1986) 8 EHRR 407

Curran v Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd (2011) CSIH 86

Gillick v Brook Advisory Centres [2001] EWCA Civ 1263

Jeynes v News Magazines Ltd and anor [2008] EWCA Civ 130.

Law Society v Kordowski [2011] EWHC 3185 (QB)