Simon Bradshaw (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
major_clanger) wrote2004-12-06 12:36 pm
major_clanger) wrote2004-12-06 12:36 pm
Entry tags:
Getting Sued for Libel: Now Available to Americans!
Legal Clanger's helpful law advice service here.
Are you American? Do you have a blog, maintain a website, post to LJ or Usenet, or even publish anything that you know might be put up on the web? If so, be very careful what you say about anyone English, because as described here, a couple of recent decisions by the English courts mean that you are opening yourself to being sued for libel in England. Which, as many unwilling litigants have found, is a spectacularly expensive activity.
[EDIT] As Displacement of Concepts notes:
"So let's put these two rulings together. If you say anything about anyone who has a reputation in England, and you could have foreseen that that statement would go up on the web, you're likely to be sued for libel in England. It doesn't matter that everyone concerned was in the US, it doesn't matter that you were talking to a US newspaper with no print circulation or target audience in England, it doesn't matter that what you said was permitted comment in US law and dealt with mainly US issues. You could still be dragged through expensive and lengthy proceedings in the English courts. Notwithstanding the protestations of the court in Lewis, a free-for-all is exactly what this creates."
On a lighter note, one of the potential defendants now facing the prospect of an English libel trial is none other than Arnie. Presumably he will now be referred to as The Litigator. For that matter, if the case goes to appeal, the Court of Appeal's decision will doubtless be reported as 'Litigator 2: Judgment Day'.
MC
Are you American? Do you have a blog, maintain a website, post to LJ or Usenet, or even publish anything that you know might be put up on the web? If so, be very careful what you say about anyone English, because as described here, a couple of recent decisions by the English courts mean that you are opening yourself to being sued for libel in England. Which, as many unwilling litigants have found, is a spectacularly expensive activity.
[EDIT] As Displacement of Concepts notes:
"So let's put these two rulings together. If you say anything about anyone who has a reputation in England, and you could have foreseen that that statement would go up on the web, you're likely to be sued for libel in England. It doesn't matter that everyone concerned was in the US, it doesn't matter that you were talking to a US newspaper with no print circulation or target audience in England, it doesn't matter that what you said was permitted comment in US law and dealt with mainly US issues. You could still be dragged through expensive and lengthy proceedings in the English courts. Notwithstanding the protestations of the court in Lewis, a free-for-all is exactly what this creates."
On a lighter note, one of the potential defendants now facing the prospect of an English libel trial is none other than Arnie. Presumably he will now be referred to as The Litigator. For that matter, if the case goes to appeal, the Court of Appeal's decision will doubtless be reported as 'Litigator 2: Judgment Day'.
MC