Society of Authors and HarperCollins welcome new court powers to protect freedom of speech

The Society of Authors and HarperCollins have welcomed justice secretary Dominic Raab’s announcement that courts will be given powers to dismiss legal actions threatening freedom of speech.

The move comes after a sharp rise in the number of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAAPs) over the past few years, seeing writers and journalists including Catherine Belton and Tom Burgis being targeted by wealthy individuals and organisations with claims of defamation in attempts to silence their work.  

Raab set out a package of measures that take aim at SLAPPs, including a new mechanism to allow courts to throw out baseless claims quicker and put a cap on costs to prevent the mega-rich from using expensive litigation as a weapon to silence their critics.

He said: “We won’t let those bankrolling Putin exploit the UK’s legal jurisdiction to muzzle their critics. So today, I’m announcing reforms to uphold freedom of speech, end the abuse of our justice system, and defend those who bravely shine a light on corruption.”

Commenting on the announcement, SoA chief executive Nicola Solomon said: “These new powers will become a crucial tool for courts in ensuring that freedom of speech cannot be so easily overridden simply because an individual or organisation has money. The rise in these cases is an abuse of our legal systems and has already stifled articles and books that are clearly in the public interest. It is essential now that the government expedites these reforms. We also call on publishers to cover authors on their insurance policies as a matter of course and to limit indemnity clauses to proven claims only, accepting responsibility for defending defamation claims.”

Earlier this year, the High Court dismissed a libel claim against Burgis and HarperCollins, brought by Kazakh-based mining giant Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), over allegations made in the 2020 book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World (William Collins). HarperCollins also had to defend Catherine Belton’s book Putin’s People (William Collins) against various lawsuits from Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft and three Russian billionaires, including Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.

Arabella Pike, publishing director at William Collins, said of the government announcement: "We were proud to defend the work of writers Catherine Belton and Tom Burgis against unprecedented legal attacks. We are therefore pleased that the Ministry Of Justice has recognised the chilling effects SLAPPs have on freedom of expression and welcome the changes proposed. These changes represent an important first step forward for publishers and authors to secure adequate means to challenge those who seek to use the legal system to suppress books and writing on matters of public interest. We will continue to work with the Publishers Association and others to ensure that the proposed reforms will work in practice and will provide the changes needed."

Under the reforms, a court will apply a new three-part test to determine whether a case should be thrown out immediately or allowed to progress.

First, it will assess if the case is against activity in the public interest – for example investigating financial misconduct by a company or individual. Then, it will examine if there’s evidence of abuse of process, such as whether the claimant has sent a barrage of highly aggressive letters on a trivial matter. Finally, it will review whether the case has sufficient merit – specifically if it has a realistic prospect of success.

Anyone subject to a suspected SLAPPs case will be able to apply to the court to have it considered for early dismissal. Ministers will also introduce a new costs protection scheme to level the playing field between wealthy claimants with deep pockets and defendants.  

The government said the move “seeks to shield those fighting lawsuits from crippling costs and enable meritless cases to be properly defended”. It will consult the Civil Procedure Rules Committee as necessary and set out the design of the scheme and the precise level of cost caps in due course.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/society-of-authors-welcomes-new-court-powers-to-protect-freedom-of-speech

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http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com/ (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

https://awesternheart.blogspot.com/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

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