United Kingdom: Court Orders Carole Cadwalladr To Pay Extortionate Costs In SLAPP Case - Sets Chilling Precedent For Press Freedom
Location: United Kingdom, London
Date: May 18, 2023
Court rules investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr must pay legal fees and damages to businessman Arron Banks after she partially loses libel case on appeal. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is alarmed by UK Court’s decision. The ruling will have a chilling effect on investigative journalism in the country.
“A dark day for freedom of the press, for everyone who cares about it and for every journalist & news organization that believes in public interest reporting,” wrote Carole Cadwalladr after a disappointing appeal court ruling in her lengthy libel battle with businessman Arron Banks.
Arron Banks sued the award-winning investigative journalist for libel regarding comments she made on Twitter and in a TED Talk.
Cadwalladr won the initial trial in June 2022 when the judge dismissed the charges against her. At that time, the court ruled that although they found the statements in question were defamatory, they ruled in Cadwalladr’s favor as they were made in the pursuit of public interest journalism.
“A dark day for freedom of the press, for everyone who cares about it and for every journalist & news organization that believes in public interest reporting”
In February, the multimillionaire partially reversed Cadwalladr's victory at the Court of Appeal. After initially agreeing on damages of £35,000, the court told the journalist she must also cover a significant percentage of Banks’ legal costs as Banks "was the successful party on the appeal and overall."
Cadwalladr must pay 60% of the businessman's original costs — listing an interim figure of £400,000, required to pay a third of Bank's legal costs for the hearing at the Court of Appeal, and repay almost £800,000 in costs that Banks paid her after initially losing the case.
The journalist must also issue an apology and delete tweets.
Cadwalladr will appeal the ruling ordering her to pay Bank’s legal costs. On May 23, she filed a permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court, announcing that if UK courts reject, she will take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Press freedom and news organizations expressed alarm over the implications of this latest ruling on press freedom in the UK. Reporters Without Borders stated that it sends a “chilling message to investigative journalists everywhere,” solidifying London’s reputation as “the libel capital of the world.”
Abusive Legal Claims To Silence Press
CFWIJ has characterized Bank’s libel pursuit against Cadwalladr as a SLAPP case. While UK Anti-SLAPP and international press freedom organizations agree, the UK High Court does not.
Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) cases are lawsuits initiated by wealthy actors to intimidate and silence journalists and activists by dragging them through lengthy legal proceedings and draining them financially.
Cadwalladr’s legal battle with Arron Banks — a multimillionaire, prominent Brexit campaigner, and founder of campaign group Leave.EU — has been underway for four years.
Carole Cadwalladr is a renowned investigative journalist whose reporting into Cambridge Analytica and Brexit campaign financing has triggered multiple investigations by authorities.
The litigation has disrupted Cadwalladr’s work as a journalist and caused her immense emotional and financial distress. As a freelance journalist targeted individually by the millionaire, she did not have the resources of a media outlet to back her financially. Instead, Cadwalladr raised money through crowdfunding to cover her legal fees.
In the UK, libel cases — or threats of libel cases — are frequently brought against journalists. Wealthy individuals threaten news outlets and journalists with legal action to prevent or discourage them from publishing content that names powerful actors. The strain of the legal process, and expensive fees for lawyers, often pressure the media to refuse to publish out of fear of litigation.
Anti-SLAPP Proposals
Proposals for a Model Anti-SLAPP Law to discourage abusive targeting of journalists were presented to the British government in 2022. Signed and drafted by a coalition of media freedom organizations and media outlets, the law intends to complicate litigious actors' pursual of SLAPP cases and give courts the power to dismiss claims without merit swiftly.
The proposed bill would provide journalists with more protection, limit the financial harm of these cases, and discourage wealthy individuals from abusing the legal system to stymie reporting and stifle free speech.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is alarmed by the decision of the UK Court of Appeal to award such significant legal costs to Arron Banks. The ruling emboldens rich and powerful oligarchs to proceed with nuisance and bogus legal claims to intimidate journalists.
Proposals on how to counteract harmful SLAPP cases have been presented to the British government. It must act now to stop blatant attempts to silence the press.
We support Carole Cadwalladr’s decision to appeal the ruling ordering her to pay Bank’s legal costs and call on the UK courts to accept her permission to appeal and reverse this unjust ruling.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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