Northern Ireland courts are no place you want to be a defendent in such
>I was aware also that the Northern Ireland Assembly was considering reform in line with England & Wales, after Mike Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionist Party had introduced a Private Member’s Bill calling for such. It was not my primary motivation for the research, but I did hope that, if it were published in time, it would inform public debate about the issue. I had no idea at the time how the research would be treated by the Northern Ireland Department of Finance and the Committee charged with scrutinising the Bill.
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>The research focused on three specific areas of the law: the presumption of jury trials; the threshold of seriousness in defamation claims; and the public interest defence. It was apparent early on that these marked the key areas of divergence between England & Wales and Northern Ireland and had the most pronounced effect in terms of the balance of rights between parties to defamation claims.
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>In summary, the article demonstrates how the continued presumption of jury trials in Northern Ireland exasperates the costs and complexity of proceedings and postpones proper scrutiny of claims to late stages in proceedings. It shows that, while courts in England & Wales had been employing a more fact-sensitive threshold to claims since as far back as 2010, the presumption of jury trial in Northern Ireland continues to allow plaintiffs to advance proceedings, so long as it would not be ‘perverse’ for the court to consider the words complained of defamatory – a difference that causes many defendants in Northern Ireland to settle early. It shows further that, even when there is opportunity to apply a more substantive threshold, the courts in Northern Ireland have generally eschewed the fact-sensitive approach, to allow plaintiffs to recover on the presumption of harm. Finally, the article reveals that there has never been a successful public
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>(https://nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/nilq/issue73AD1-article4)
I’ll be honest, I’m not gonna bother reading the story and have no idea of the relative merits of the case but I hope he loses. Guy is an utter bellend.
2 comments
Oh dear.
Northern Ireland courts are no place you want to be a defendent in such
>I was aware also that the Northern Ireland Assembly was considering reform in line with England & Wales, after Mike Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionist Party had introduced a Private Member’s Bill calling for such. It was not my primary motivation for the research, but I did hope that, if it were published in time, it would inform public debate about the issue. I had no idea at the time how the research would be treated by the Northern Ireland Department of Finance and the Committee charged with scrutinising the Bill.
>
>The research focused on three specific areas of the law: the presumption of jury trials; the threshold of seriousness in defamation claims; and the public interest defence. It was apparent early on that these marked the key areas of divergence between England & Wales and Northern Ireland and had the most pronounced effect in terms of the balance of rights between parties to defamation claims.
>
>In summary, the article demonstrates how the continued presumption of jury trials in Northern Ireland exasperates the costs and complexity of proceedings and postpones proper scrutiny of claims to late stages in proceedings. It shows that, while courts in England & Wales had been employing a more fact-sensitive threshold to claims since as far back as 2010, the presumption of jury trial in Northern Ireland continues to allow plaintiffs to advance proceedings, so long as it would not be ‘perverse’ for the court to consider the words complained of defamatory – a difference that causes many defendants in Northern Ireland to settle early. It shows further that, even when there is opportunity to apply a more substantive threshold, the courts in Northern Ireland have generally eschewed the fact-sensitive approach, to allow plaintiffs to recover on the presumption of harm. Finally, the article reveals that there has never been a successful public
>
>(https://nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/nilq/issue73AD1-article4)
Or a somewhat simpler explanation:
>Out-Law News: [Twitter libel case shows Northern Ireland is more ‘claimant friendly’ than the rest of the UK, say experts](https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/twitter-libel-case-shows-northern-ireland-is-more-claimant-friendly-than-the-rest-of-the-uk-say-experts)
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>A judge’s decision in a libel trial in Northern Ireland reinforces the fact that the country is the most “claimant friendly” in the UK for bringing defamation claims, experts have said.
I’ll be honest, I’m not gonna bother reading the story and have no idea of the relative merits of the case but I hope he loses. Guy is an utter bellend.