A new hurdle for libel cases to pass?

This is from last week, but I missed it at the time. Please accept my in-sincerest apologies... Briefly, we appear to have had another good libel judgement. (Not an Eady ruling this time though)

From the Index on Censorship blog:

A good week then for Lynn Barber and her employers at the Telegraph, as a libel case brought against the newspaper by author Sarah Thornton was dismissed by Mr Justice Tugendhat.

Legal blogger Jack of Kent draws particular attention to point 89 of the ruling, of which he says: "it appears that the Mr Justice Tugendhat has effectively introduced a substantial harm test for libel."

[Para 89 says:]

I accept [The Telegraph's] submission that whatever definition of “defamatory” is adopted, it must include a qualification or threshold of seriousness, so as to exclude trivial claims."

There's not much more to add other than we have had quite a lot of good libel decision this year. Let's hope the trend keeps up. Tweet