Sir, Should Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations in relation to the funding of litigation be implemented in full this will amount to a terrifying inhibitor for press freedom. (“Time to put the brake on costs that deny access to justice, urges judge”, Jan 15 ).
The proposals are that should a claimant be successful in defamation proceedings they will not only recover damages (which are to be increased by 10 per cent), they will also recover their legal costs. However, should the defendant newspaper prove that the published information is true it will not be able to recover its costs of defending the action. The costs of defending defamation proceedings are high. In many respects this is because of the obligations imposed by the Civil Procedure Rules, which media defendants must abide by.
A person or organisation wishing to suppress embarrassing or incriminating information can threaten to issue defamation proceedings knowing that there is no risk of an adverse costs order against themselves but that the media defendant will be out of pocket by many tens of thousands of pounds, whatever the result.
Media defendants face the prospect of “publish and be damned, even if you are right”. The recommendations would sound the death knell for investigative journalism.
Alan Robertshaw (Barrister)
Lucy Morgan (Solicitor)
Truro, Cornwall