Rufus v Elliott, Queen's Bench Division, 19 March 2015

The claimant and defendant were former professional footballers, former friends and former business acquaintances. Both remained involved in football and the defendant had been an anti-racism campaigner. They fell out over a business issue and the defendant sent an offensive and aggressive text message to the claimant which contained a racial slur. The text message was publicised in a national newspaper the following week in an article about the business dispute. The fact that the text message had been sent was then widely reported. The defendant resigned from his position as a trustee of an anti-racism organisation and issued a press release in which he admitted sending the text, expressed regret and acknowledged that it had been inappropriate and that it had compromised his position as a trustee. The press release was widely republished. The claimant's case was that the press release had implied that he had made a private text message public. He maintained that he had not done so, and issued a claim for libel.

Judgment accordingly. The press release was not defamatory of the claimant. Right thinking members of society could not disapprove of the claimant "blowing the whistle", even if he had revealed the details of a private message sent to him. Full reasons for that finding would be handed down later.

Judge: Warby J

Posted By: Old Git, Mar 20, 10:54:03