Newspapers fail to stop no win no fee libel claims

Top UK Newspapers have been unsuccessful in their bid to persuade the Supreme Court to do away with no win no fee claims for libel.

The appeal was brought by Times Newspapers, Mirror Group Newspapers and Associated Newspapers, as they had been forced to pay out many thousands of pounds in three separate libel cases against them, for success fees brought under no win no fee agreements. 

Conditional Fee Agreements, or no win no fee agreements, were subject to significant reforms in April 2013, which meant that success fees could only be recovered from an unsuccessful defendant in cases involving defamation (both libel and slander) and privacy cases. 

The newspapers argued that it was unfair that they should still be subject to these success fees but the Supreme Court rejected their arguments.

No win no fee agreements for libel and slander claims are an important tool to allow clients whose reputations have been harmed to obtain access to justice. Judith Thompson, partner and expert in defamation claims says: "as there are now so many claims for libel and slander, arising particularly out of posts and tweets on social media, it is more important than ever that those affected can bring a claim for damages when their reputation has been harmed". 

At Samuels Solicitors, based in Barnstaple North Devon, we have been assisting clients with libel, slander and breach of privacy claims on a no win no fee basis for many years.

Reputation management is a particularly specialist area, and we believe we are the only solicitors in Devon offering this service.

We have clients from all over England and Wales and so if you believe you have been the victim of libel or slander, contact us today for a free initial discussion about how we can assist you.