Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd

What the court held

The Supreme Court gave the definitive interpretation of Defamation Act 2013 s.1(1) — "serious harm to the reputation of the claimant". Held that "serious harm" is a factual threshold requiring evidence of actual or likely harm, not an inference from the words alone.

Key rulings

• Serious harm test is factual — inference from meaning of words is insufficient.
• Evidence can include reputational impact on named third parties, republication reach, and communicated conclusions of readers.
• Meaning determined objectively, harm evaluated at the pleading stage where possible.

Topics

Acts cited

• Defamation Act 2013

Authoritative source