Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

High Court bars post-meaning Lucas-Box amendments; strikes out impermissible rewording, while most truth defence particulars survive (Bokova v Associated Newspapers)

Published on: 06 August 2018

Published by a LexisNexis TMT expert

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Article summary

What are the practical implications of this case?

This judgment grappled with a bold attempt by the defendant in a libel claim to recast the Lucas-Box meanings set out in its defence, notwithstanding that the court had already settled the issue of meaning earlier in the proceedings. In essence, it addressed whether a party could revisit and amend its Lucas-Box meanings after a prior judicial determination of meaning had been made.

What was the background?

The claimant, Irina Bokova, who at the relevant time was Director-General of UNESCO, commenced a libel action arising from articles published on the Mail Online and in the Daily Mail. The defendant, Associated Newspapers Limited, put forward a defence of truth under section 2 of the Defamation Act 2013 (DA 2013). The claimant sought a ruling on the articles’ meaning and orders striking out the truth defence pursuant to CPR 3.4(2)(a) and/or (b) on the basis that...

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