
Libel judgment signals trouble for litigants in person
In Parkes v Hall & Anr [2021] Sir Nichol has addressed the protection offered to litigants-in-person in libel cases. His judgment has confirmed that litigants in person shall receive no special allowances in defamation cases and if they consistently fall foul of the court’s rules, they risk strikeout. "clock" by fsse8info is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Judgment The case involved a claim in defamation which culminated in both defendants’ defences being struck out. The initial
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Abramovich v (1) HarperCollins Publishers Limited (2) Catherine Belton [2021]
Mr. Abramovich has won the first round of his libel case against publisher HarperCollins as the High Court today ruled that allegations made against him are defamatory at common law. While, in a separate judgment on state-owned Russian energy company Rosneft’s claim, the court found that three of the four meanings contended for by the claimant were not defamatory at common law. These libel actions arose out of the publication of Journalist Catherine Belton’s 2020 book Putin’s