jes law

If a defamation claim has been made against you, you should contact a defamation solicitor as soon as possible. They will be able to advise you on the legal merits of the claim brought against you. Accordingly, a defamation solicitor will be in a position to advise you on how best to defend or resolve the claim.If the claim made against you is very strong, a defamation solicitor may advise you on how best to resolve the dispute. It may be that going to court and attempting to defend the claim could be pointless and very expensive. In such a case a defamation solicitor will try to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with the other side in order to minimise time and hassle to you and to essentially mitigate your loss.

However, if a frivolous, vexatious defamation claim has been brought against you, a defamation solicitor will be able to advise you on how best to defend this claim. Below is an outline of some of the defences available to defamation claims:

Justification

Quite simply, in most cases, if you can prove that the alleged defamatory statement you made about the claimant is true in substance and fact then you will be able to successfully defend the claim. You will need to provide evidence to help substantiate this defence (i.e. to help prove the statement you made is true).

Fair comment

This defence is in the nature of a general right and allows members of the public to make defamatory statements about matters which are of interest to the general public. This defence only applies where the statements are recognisable to the reader or listener as to be statements of opinion rather than fact.

This defence will fail if it can be shown that the defamatory statements were made maliciously.

In addition to the above, there are other defences which can be raised to beat defamation claims. These include absolute and qualified privilege and the statutory defence of offer of amends.