Anthony Metzer QC and Dr Anton van Dellen (formerly a full tenant; now a door tenant in Chambers) represented the Appellant publishers in an appeal concerning the Court of Appeal’s interpretation of the public interest defence in defamation and whether the trial was unfair by virtue of the trial Judge’s interventions. The original trial was before Jay J in 2017 and concerned the publication in a Polish newspaper of allegations about the Claimant: Serafin v Malkiewicz and others.
The Court of Appeal had decided that the trial had been unfair due the trial Judge’s interventions, but handed down a very restrictive interpretation of the public interest defence overturning his analysis of the law. In its judgment handed down today, the Supreme Court made it absolutely clear that, contrary to the Court of Appeal’s Judgment, the public interest defence does not import of a test of responsibility or the treatment of the Reynolds factors as a checklist upholding the Appellants’ submissions in this important area. They did however agree with the Court of Appeal that the trial Judge had been unfair at the trial. The claim therefore now returns to the High Court for a further trial before a different Judge of the Media and Communications List.
Anthony Metzer QC and Dr Anton van Dellen appeared together with David Price QC in the Supreme Court and were instructed by David Price QC (Solicitor Advocate).
