Category: Defamation

Identifiability in defamation, data protection, and privacy cases (updated)

| 4 Comments
| Defamation, Defamation, Privacy, Privacy

Martin Kenny TD (Sinn Fein)In an earlier post, I considered the settlement in Carey v Independent News & Media and the status of Bloomberg v ZXC [2022] AC 1158, [2022] UKSC 5 (16 February 2022) in Ireland. According to media reports this time last week, a case similar to Carey may very well be brewing:

Sinn Féin TD takes breach of privacy action against Mediahuis and state (Barry Whyte, Business Post, 24 September 2023)
Martin Kenny also suing the gardaí and the state over a series of articles published last year which did not name him.

Sinn Féin TD sues An Garda Síochána, Independent titles publisher and State (Colm Keena, Irish Times, 24 September 2023)
Martin Kenny is taking breach of privacy case arising from news report that did not name him or his party.

It seems that the articles in respect of which he is suing contain a quote from An Garda Síochána about an ongoing investigation into an alleged criminal offence, that they say that there was a connection to a politician who was a member of an unnamed party, and that they made it clear that there was no suggestion that this politician was being accused of any wrongdoing.…

Read More »

The next steps in defamation reform, including the development of an anti-SLAPP mechanism, limp slowly closer – updated

| No Comments
| Defamation, Defamation, Defamation Act 2009

Murphy, Costello, Harris, via Oireachtas website

The written answer to two Parliamentary Questions earlier this week (on Tuesday 21 February 2023) provides hope for imminent publication of the long awaited the General Scheme of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill, including the introduction of an anti-SLAPP mechanism.

Deputy Catherine Murphy TD (pictured above left) asked the Minister for Justice if his Department has been engaging with the European Parliament in relation to the proposed directive on Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation; and to detail what anti-SLAPP mechanisms his Department is considering for domestic legislation.

Deputy Patrick Costello TD (pictured above centre) asked the Minister for Justice the status of the proposed introduction of an anti-SLAPP mechanism in Irish law (details supplied), as committed to in May 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Justice Simon Harris TD (pictured above right) took both questions together and replied (links, and emphasis, added):

On 1st March 2022, the Government approved publication of the Report of the Review of the Defamation Act 2009 and the development of a General Scheme of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill on foot of the Report.

As the Deputy has noted, a key recommendation in the Report is to introduce a new ‘anti-SLAPP’ mechanism – referring to Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation – to allow a person to apply to court for summary dismissal of proceedings that he/she believes are a SLAPP.

…

Read More »

Winter is coming: the future of First Amendment analysis, and the prospects for New York Times v Sullivan, after NYSR&PA v Bruen

| 3 Comments
| 1A, Defamation, Defamation, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Expression, US Supreme Court

Winter is Coming (element)Cold winds now blow in the US Supreme Court around the stability of a century’s worth of First Amendment doctrine; even New York Times Co v Sullivan 376 US 254 (1964), the most stable of that Court’s speech precedents, now seems in danger of being blown away in the storm, thanks to the recent decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen 597 US 1 (2022) (pdf | SCOTUSblog). In an earlier post on this blog, I considered the potential impact on the First Amendment of Thomas J’s originalist reasoning in the Second Amendment case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen, and found some distinctly chilly zephyrs. Thomas J for the majority (Roberts CJ, and Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett JJ concurring) held that a restriction on carrying arms in public for self-defense reasons was inconsistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation and was thus unconstitutional. Thomas J explicitly eschewed any standard of review such as strict or intermediate scrutiny, and it was with this that the minority (Breyer J; Sotomayor and Kagan JJ concurring) took most issue. This is nuts. Worse, in Bruen, Thomas J asserted some similarities in analysis between the Second Amendment and the First.…

Read More »

Blooming Lawyers: from Sadgrove v Hole, via Palles CB and Ulysses, to Facebook

| 3 Comments
| Christopher Palles, Defamation, Defamation, Defamation Act 2009, James Joyce

Palles and Joyce (images via Wikipedia, edited)I was reminded (plug alert) of my piece “The Aeolus Episode in Ulysses and the Freeman’s Journal: Chief Baron Palles and the law of defamation”, chapter 12 in Oonagh B Breen & Noel McGrath (eds) Palles. The Legal Legacy of the last Lord Chief Baron (Four Courts Press, 2022) (noted here), when I had the pleasure of reading the recent re-publication of Brian McMahon’s article (first published: Law Society Gazette, October 2004, 12), focusing on Dublin’s legal fraternity in Ulysses by James Joyce (pictured left, on the right).

To celebrate the 100th anniversary this year of the publication of Ulysses by Syliva Beach in Paris, this month’s Law Society Gazette (October 2022 (pdf), 41) has reproduced McMahon’s excellent and entertaining article.

Here are some extracts from it about three minor elements of the book that raise interesting issues of a legal nature:

James Joyce’s Ulysses is set in Dublin on 16 June 1904, and its two principal characters are Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. Bloom is the novel’s hero, and his journey around Dublin echoes Odysseus’ journey in Homer’s Odyssey. …

… Martin Cunningham tells … Bloom, how Reuben J’s son tried to commit suicide by jumping into the Liffey, but was saved by a workman who was rewarded with a florin.

…

Read More »

The Aeolus Episode in Ulysses and the Freeman’s Journal: Chief Baron Palles and the law of defamation

| 1 Comment
| Christopher Palles, Defamation, Defamation, James Joyce

Bloomsday 2022 is a good day to note the imminent publication the following (from the introduction and conclusion; footnotes mostly omitted):

The Aeolus Episode in Ulysses and the Freeman’s Journal: Chief Baron Palles and the law of defamation

Breen-McGrath-PallesChristopher Palles is one of the many real Dubliners in Joyce’s Ulysses. The title refers to the Roman name of a Greek hero, Odysseus; and the novel roughly corresponds to various episodes in Homer’s Odyssey, telling the story of Dublin through the wanderings of Leopold Bloom (Homer’s Odysseus) on 16 June 1904. In the Odyssey, Aeolus, the warden of the winds, seeks to help Odysseus. In the Aeolus episode in Ulysses, Bloom visits his workplace, the Freeman’s Journal, and almost crosses paths with Stephen Dedalus (Homer’s Telemachus, the other great protagonist in Ulysses).

In the Aeolus episode, many of the novel’s characters discuss the issues of the day in the Journal’s offices. J.J. O’Molloy (a once-promising lawyer now fallen on hard times) interrupts Professor MacHugh’s discourse on the grandeur that was Rome, to ask ‘Do you know that story about chief baron Palles? … It was at the royal university dinner. Everything was going swimmingly …’.

…

Read More »

Defamation reform will go to Cabinet tomorrow – and it will include anti-SLAPP provisions! — Updated: it’s been postponed by a week

| 2 Comments
| 2016-17 Reform, Defamation, Defamation, Libel tourism

Helen McEntee (27 June 2020) via flickrBy way of update to my previous post wondering whether we will see Cabinet approve the drafting of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill before the end of the month, it seems increasingly likely that the answer is: yes, we will, and may even see it tomorrow. Both Mark Tighe in yesterday’s Sunday Times (sub req’d), and Jennifer Bray in today’s Irish Times, report that Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee (pictured right) will bring a package of proposals for reform of Ireland’s defamation laws to Cabinet tomorrow. Shane Phelan has a similar report in the Sunday Independent; and Elaine Loughlin has a similar report in the Irish Examiner.

This week’s reports are similar to those of Hugh O’Connell in the Sunday Independent a week ago as noted in my previous post, with one very important addition. The proposed reforms follow on from a statutory review of the operation of the Defamation Act 2009 (also here) that was probably completed in 2020 but has yet to be published; and, in my post on O’Connell’s report, I commented that if the review had recommended provisions to control strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), I would have expected O’Connell to have said so.…

Read More »

Will we see Cabinet approve the drafting of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill before the end of the month?

| 1 Comment
| 2016-17 Reform, Defamation, Defamation

DefamationA report by Hugh O’Connell in yesterday’s Sunday Independent suggests that the answer to the question in the title of this post is: yes, we may very well see Cabinet approve the drafting of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill before the end of the month. He reports that the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, will bring to Cabinet the outcome of a statutory review (including a stakeholder symposium) of the operation of the Defamation Act 2009 (also here) and a general scheme of the Heads of a Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2022 based on the review’s recommendations. This is exciting news, but I’m not going to get too carried away, because we have been here many times before. Last March, on this blog, I bemoaned the many false dawns in Irish defamation law reform. Then, in July, I posed the question “Who will come first, Godot, or an Irish Minister for Justice bearing defamation reform?”. So far, we’ve seen neither; but O’Connell’s report suggests we might just soon see the latter.

The Defamation Act 2009 had been signed by the President on 23 July 2009, and it came into force on 1 January 2010. Section 5 (also here) requires the Minister to commence a review of the operation of the Act “not later than 5 years after the passing of this Act”, and to complete that review within a year.…

Read More »

If Equity can develop new orders when necessary, can it develop anti-SLAPP orders? Part 1: new equitable orders

| 2 Comments
| Defamation

In a tweet a little while ago, I wondered:

If Equity can develop new orders/injunctions when necessary (eg Cartier v BT [2018] UKSC 28 [15] (Sumption)), can it develop anti-SLAPP orders?

Bears and baby (element)The answer to this question falls into two stages. The first, which I will consider in this post, is the extent to which equity can generate a new order or injunction. If it can, then the second stage, which I will consider in a future post, is whether it can develop a new order or injunction to prevent strategic lawsuits against public participation (anti-SLAPP orders).

The answer to question whether equity can generate a new order or injunction, and the background to Cartier, begins with section 25(8) of the Judicature Act, 1873, which provided that a “mandamus or an injunction may be granted or a received appointed by an interlocutory order of the court in all cases in which it shall appear to the court to be just and convenient”. In Beddow v Beddow (1879) 9 Ch D 89 (pdf), Jessel MR held that if “this can be done on by interlocutory application a fortiori it can be done at the trial of the action”.…

Read More »

© cearta.ie 2025. Powered by WordPress