Unless you have been living under a rock for the last week you will have heard about the comments made by Jeremy Clarkson about Meghan Markle.
For those that haven’t seen, Jeremy Clarkson in his newspaper column expressed his hatred for Meghan Markle on a “cellular level” and referred to a humiliating scene from Game of Thrones where he dreamed Meghan Markle would be the victim. Jeremy Clarkson faced much backlash because of his comments but did he expose himself to having a claim of defamation brought against him for his comments?
In order to bring a claim of defamation a claimant must first satisfy the criteria set out in the Defamation Act 2013 (Act). The requirements are as follows:
- The Claimant must establish that the comments made were capable of being defamatory;
- The defamatory statement must have been published;
- The statement must, or is likely to, cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant; and
- The statement must have caused serious financial loss.
Whether the statements made by Mr Clarkson were capable of being defamatory will depend on whether the Court believes that the comments were capable of lowering Ms Markle in the estimations of right thinking members of the public generally. The Court would need to analyse the ordinary and natural meaning of the words at a preliminary trial.
Publishing a statement simply means making a statement publicly to others and not only the person the statement applies to. There can be no doubt that the article posted by Jeremy Clarkson was published.
The biggest hurdle would be for Meghan Markle to then demonstrate that the statement is likely to cause her serious harm and a serious financial loss. It is no secret that Meghan Markle has become the focus of a number of attacks so there may be some difficulty so far as proving causation. It follows that without being able to show causation, Meghan Markle may struggle to show the comments made by Jeremy Clarkson have caused a serious financial loss, if any financial loss can be shown at all.
A further blow to any potential claim would be the defences available to Jeremy Clarkson. The Act sets out a number of defences, including Truth and Honest Opinion. The article posted by Jeremy Clarkson only goes so far as to express a dis-like of Meghan Markle and makes no factual statements that could be proven to be false.
If a claim was pursued Jeremy Clarkson would be able to rely on the defence of Honest Opinion on the basis that it is his view that he does not like Meghan Markle. Taking into account the hurdles of such a claim and the defences available, it is unlikely Meghan Markle would be able to bring a civil claim of defamation against Jeremy Clarson.
How can Nelsons help
Stuart Parris is an Associate in our expert Dispute Resolution team.
If on review of this blog, you feel you may have a claim of defamation against another please do not hesitate to contact Stuart or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.
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