Defamation

Tim Carson places the statutory review of the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 in context. Midway through the Long Vacation, the Northern Ireland Department of Finance quietly published its statutorily mandated Report on the Review of the Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.

Gateley Legal NI legal director Jonathan Jackson discusses the key insights of a review of Northern Ireland's defamation laws. Published earlier this summer, the Department of Finance’s review of the Defamation Act (NI) 2022 analyses the 2022 Act’s implementation to date and identifies c

Landmark legislation abolishing juries in High Court defamation cases and introducing measures to tackle so-called SLAPPs will be published next week. The Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 will make the most significant reforms to Irish defamation law in 15 years, following a public consultation on r

Business lobby groups have met with a junior minister in the Department of Justice to set out their call for a €75,000 cap on defamation awards. A delegation from ISME, which represents small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association (CSNA) met with

The Court of Appeal has determined that Iconic Newspapers Ltd could not rely on the defence of qualified privilege in respect of a publication which erroneously stated that the respondent featured on Revenue’s ‘tax defaulters list’. Delivering judgment for the Court of Appeal, Mr J

Northern Ireland's High Court has dismissed a "scandalous, frivolous and vexatious" defamation claim brought against Belfast journalist and author Malachi O'Doherty by Sinn Féin politician Gerry Kelly. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) welcomed yesterday's decision as "extremely signifi

Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill has reached a settlement in a libel action against DUP MP Sammy Wilson. Pádraig Ó Muirigh, director of Ó Muirigh Solicitors, said: "The objective all along in this legal action was to correct the public record in relation to the date of knowle

Northern Ireland lawyers and other stakeholders have been invited to share their views on defamation law to inform an ongoing review. The Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, which made a number of changes including the removal of the presumption in favour of trial by jury, requires the Departmen

Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews has launched defamation proceedings against The Irish Times and an individual journalist in connection with an article about his party's response to the war in Gaza. The lawsuit concerns an article by Harry McGee headlined Spotlight on Sinn Féin over its stan

An "offensive and misogynistic" social media post about Sinn Féin's northern leader and first minister-designate Michelle O'Neill was not defamatory and the case "ought never have been brought", Northern Ireland's High Court has ruled.

Northern Ireland's High Court has dismissed an action brought by a solicitor who alleged that complaints made about him to the Law Society of Northern Ireland (LSNI) were defamatory. Delivering the judgment, Danny Friedman KC, sitting as a High Court judge, noted the complaints were worthy of absolu

A task force organised by UK culture secretary Lucy Frazer will meet today to address the growing concern of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) aimed at curbing the freedom of the press. These vexatious actions, often launched by affluent individuals such as Russian oligarchs,

Taxi drivers are set to take legal action after delegates at a Belfast conference were told to avoid black cabs "because they are run by the IRA". The claim was made in a security document sent to delegates attending the 2023 CYBERUK conference organised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC),

A local politician has threatened to sue ChatGPT over false claims in what would be the first defamation claim brought against an AI-powered chatbot, according to reports. Lawyers for Brian Hood, the mayor of Hepburn Shire, Australia, have written to ChatGPT developer OpenAI after the chatbot allege

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rescinded two orders rejecting the right to trial by jury in defamation cases between Sir Van Morrison and former health minister Robin Swann. The court found that the trial judge erred in considering the facts and issues in the two cases together to deny