Slashdot Mirror
British Woman's Twitter Comments Spark Expensive Libel Claims
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from the BBC: "A woman who complained about an unpaid £146 invoice is facing a libel battle that could cost her more than £100,000. Lesley Kemp, 55, took to Twitter claiming that a company based in the Middle East had failed to pay her promptly for transcription work. Now the firm is suing Mrs Kemp, of Milton Keynes, for defamation, claiming up to £50,000 in damages and a further £70,000 in costs. The company, Resolution Productions, based in Qatar, has yet to comment."
If what she said is true then she has nothing to worry about. However she'll have to be able to prove it's true.
people without money don't receive justice against the people buying laws.
While I personally don't like the existence of libel laws, this is not the case of misusing it to censor criticism or somebody getting into trouble for an innocent joke. If the company can prove that they payed her promptly then this is libel, otherwise it's not and she can sue them back for wrongful accusation. Nobody has a right not to get sued.
I agree completely Mr. Child Molester...
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
But this case has not gone to court yet, and her solicitor is persuing it no-win no-fee, which implies he believes she's on the winning side.
It's a myth that truth isn's a defense against libel in the UK. If you prove that what you said is true, then you win the case.
The myth seems to come about because the burden of proof is on the person who made the comment to prove the truth of the statement, not the accuser of libel to disprove it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_defamation_law
Here, banking records will easily prove her to be telling the truth or not. I suspect this is simply a company trying to bully her with a meritless law-suit.
in Malibu that goes by the name of Mrs Streisand.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Truth is no defense against libel in the U.K.
An interesting attack on U.K. libel law might be for foreigners to sue various MPs for things they've said.
Wrong, on all points. Comprehensively.
I know that Slashdot is now primarily a place for the immature and ill-informed to run off at the mouth on topics of which they know little, but that was a particularly clueless contribution.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
My understanding is that it's common in the UK for the court to award legal costs to the winner of the civil case, even if it's the defendent. In this particular case, the defendant has legal advice already, but they're working under an arrangement where they will not charge if the case is lost... and I suspect that if the case is won, the money for her defence will end up coming out of the plaintiff's wallet.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Here's an idea: stop trying to make everything about the US. The world doesn't revolve around you: you don't have to interject about how proud you are of your "country".
The world doesn't revolve around you
For me it does, believe it or not.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Why, and let this company screw her over?
Should you not leave negative reviews on Amazon or Ebay?
Being able to tell the world about your experience with a company, is a good form of consumer protection, as it gives the company a good reason to make sure a customer leaves satisfied. If she'd positive tweet, this company may have received extra business so it can work both ways.
The real lesson here is for British politicians and courts to tidy up our messy libel system (assuming she is telling the truth) so companies using these tactics are out of pocket so they think twice about filing these kind of law suits.
Here's an idea: stop trying to make everything about the US. The world doesn't revolve around you: you don't have to interject about how proud you are of your "country".
He has a point, though. The UK libel / defamation laws are appalling. So much so that the US had to break some treaties in order to prevent US citizens from being abused by the UK courts for speech which is very much acceptable in the US.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
Chiropractic care isn't bogus when used for what it was designed to do—correcting posture and forcing tight muscles to release so that they don't cause strain in further muscles, resulting in a chain reaction of back pain that leaves people in serious pain.
Define "subluxation", in an objective and measurable way.
When you make your living treating the scientific equivalent of Bad Spine Spirits(tm), you just might be a quack.