Embarrassing Bodies’ Dr Jessen To Pay £125,000 Following His Defamatory Tweet

Background

On 23rd December 2019, TV presenter, Dr Christian Jessen, tweeted that the Democratic Unionist Party Leader, Arlene Foster, had been having an affair. The allegation was completely unfounded.

Mrs Foster’s lawyer advised Dr Jessen to remove the totally false allegation. Dr Jessen, however, refused and the post remained for another two weeks until it was finally deleted on 7th January 2020.

At the forefront of Mrs Foster’s argument was that the tweet had been deliberatively timed so as to undermine her during critical negotiations on the restoration of devolved Government in Northern Ireland.

What did the Judge consider?

The Judge found in favour of Mrs Foster. Most pertinently, what we can take away from this judgment is what the Judge considered when deciding upon the amount of damages to be awarded for the defamatory tweet.

The Judge first considered Ms Foster’s individual circumstances: namely that she had been married for 25 years with three children. She was also a devoted Christian who had previously made statements about the sanctity of marriage. The comment made by Dr Jessen was, therefore, much more likely to affect the reputation of Mrs Foster compared to that of another person.

The Judge also considered the reach of the tweet, looking at how many followers Dr Jessen had, how long the tweet was online, how many likes/retweets it had received, etc.

Ultimately, the Judge ordered Dr Jessen to pay Mrs Foster £125,000.00 by way of damages, with costs to be assessed on an indemnity basis.

Comment

This case is important for practitioners as it is a helpful insight into what the Court will consider when deciding what level of damages should be awarded in defamation claims.

Most interestingly, it seems that the Court will have regard to the individual’s circumstances and consider whether they would have been more affected by the statement than the average person.