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Dyson v MGN (EWHC): Honest opinion based on extrinsic existing facts; serious harm not proved—practical guidance on DA 2013 ss 1 and 3 for libel practitioners (England and Wales)

Published on: 02 January 2024

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Dyson v MGN Ltd [2023] EWHC 3092 (KB)

What are the practical implications of this case?

A claimant must factor in material that sits outside the impugned publication when judging the strength of a defendant’s honest opinion defence. We are also reminded of the serious harm threshold set by the Supreme Court in Lachaux v Independent Print Media Ltd [2019] UKSC 27. The court adhered to earlier authority that, although a claimant may advance an inferential case on serious harm, this cannot stand in for an evidential process; the building blocks of any inferential case must themselves be supported by sufficient evidence—which, in this instance, they were not.

What was the background?

On 28 January 2022, MGN ran an article titled ‘Our government is making young people believe that cheats do prosper’, and the following day it appeared under the headline, ‘Message to young folks today is that cheats do prosper’. The piece criticised Sir James for championing Vote Leave ‘before moving his global head office to Singapore’. The journalist, Brian Reade, commented: ‘In other words kids, talk the talk, then screw your’...

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