The Exceptions To Special Damage To Bring A Successful Slander Claim

Slander is a form of defamation by way of spoken words. By way of example, a person says something to another, which is defamatory about another. To bring a claim of slander, the claimant must show that they have suffered special damage, being serious harm and a form of financial loss, with serious harm being damage to a claimant’s reputation. The exception to this is if the defamatory comment suggests the claimant committed a criminal offence or is made to damage the claimant’s business or profession. Without proof of special damage, a claim for slander will not succeed.

The recent case of Hodges v Naish considered this serious harm and whether the defamatory comment which suggested the Claimant (Jamie Hodges) committed a criminal offence or was made to damage his business was sufficient.

Hodges v Naish

Background

In this case, the Defendant (Christopher Naish) had spoken to several individuals and made comments surrounding alleged acts of grooming committed by the Claimant; forming the acts of slander.

The Court considered these acts of slander and firstly had to decide whether the slander was published. Publication put simply means that the defamatory comments were made to someone other than the Claimant as this will in turn cause serious harm. The Court confirmed the defamatory comments were published as the Defendant had made comments to several individuals. The meaning of those comments was also sufficient to be defamatory.

The Court then turned to consider whether the Claimant had suffered special damage and the exceptions. Firstly, whether the slander imputed a criminal offence which could be punished by imprisonment. This was relevant in this case as the offence of grooming is to be treated as a serious offence. The second exception is whether the defamatory comments affected the Claimant’s business reputation. The Judge in this instance had no difficulty in finding the second exception to apply as the comments were made to people in the business and directly related to his business as a teacher.

Finally, the Court considered the serious harm and whether the publication caused serious harm to the Claimant’s reputation. The Court found serious harm had been caused to the Claimant’s reputation and noted the small world of the Claimant’s business increased this harm. The claim for slander was therefore allowed.

Comment

This case confirms a financial loss is not always needed to succeed with a claim of slander. Instead, the claimant will succeed if they can show the defamatory comments suggested a criminal offence with a punishment of imprisonment was committed or, the comments made affected the claimant’s profession or business. This allows greater protection for individuals as they are not always required to show financial loss which can, at times, be difficult.