Tuesday 27 March 2012

TWITTER LIBEL

My thanks to a rising star in the  Judiciary who kindly drew my attention to a piece in the 'Metro ' today. A claimant won a libel action based upon comments made by the defendant on Twitter.That novel form of publication aside, the Judge upped the damages by £15,000 because counsel for the defence had referred to "lies" or variants thereof 24 times in his closing speech. That equates to £625 a time , the biggest swear box in legal history.
What intrigued me was that the barrister , Ron Thwaites QC, is by far the best tactician and cross-examiner i know and there must be more to this.Costs were £400,000 which would , yet again , have Lord Justice Jackson tearing out his hair . Leave to appeal on quantum granted.