Q&As

Is there a risk of a claim for defamation being made against a company as a result of statements made at a company meeting? What defences are available?

read titleRead full title

Produced in partnership with Joshua Marshall of Fieldfisher
Published on: 13 June 2017
imgtext

This Q&A focusses on the situation where the statement made was oral. This considers libel and slander generally, rather than by reference to statements of a certain nature.

The starting point is to determine the medium in which the statement was made or communicated. If the statement was spoken or oral, the correct cause of action would be slander. If the statement was written, the correct cause of action would be libel. At the outset, it should be noted that libel and slander proceedings are inherently fact sensitive, with liability hinging on the specific facts of the case.

Under the common law, a statement was defamatory where it caused, or was likely to cause, a substantially adverse effect on the claimant’s reputation. However, section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 (DA 2013) requires that a statement have caused, or be likely to cause, serious reputational harm to the claimant

Joshua Marshall
Joshua Marshall

Fieldfisher

Joshua is a solicitor in the Intellectual Property and Technology Protection and Enforcement team. He practices in all areas of intellectual property litigation including copyright, design, trademark and patent, primarily in proceedings issued in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. In addition, and as part of reputation management, he also specialises in proceedings for libel, slander and malicious falsehood. Joshua works with a variety of high end to high street fashion designers and retailers, including household names, assisting in the protection of their intellectual property rights in the market. He also works with an array of commercial entities in various sectors assisting in the protection and enforcement of their key brands, trademarks and product technologies. Finally, he advises both individuals and businesses in the protection of their reputations in the media and online.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Lexis+®
Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Defamation definition
What does Defamation mean?

A portmanteau term covering both libel and slander.

Read more

Popular documents

Notice and take-down letter—defamation

Notice and take-down letter—defamationAddress of Website OperatorDear [insert organisation name]Notice and take-down letterWe act for [insert client details], on whose instructions we are writing to you.On [date] it came to our client’s attention that the following statement(s) have been published

Do you have a letter of claim (cease and desist) letter for slander damaging professional reputation?

Do you have a letter of claim (cease and desist) letter for slander damaging professional reputation?We do not have a Precedent letter of claim which relates specifically to slander, but you may be able to adapt the following Precedents from our defamation content set for your purposes:•Letter of

Defamation

DefamationThe tort of defamation is governed by a mixture of statute and common law. The relevant statutory law is contained in:•the Defamation Act 1952 (DA 1952)•the Defamation Act 1996 (DeA 1996)•the Defamation Act 2013 (DA 2013)There is no statutory definition of what is defamatory. The

Scotland—the process for applying for sequestration

Scotland—the process for applying for sequestrationSequestration in Scotland is the legal process by which an insolvent debtor’s estate is gathered in, realised and then distributed among their creditors by a trustee appointed for that purpose. The process requires that a formal award of