Supreme Court rules on defamation "public interest" defence

On 3 June 2020, in Serafin v Malciewicz and others [2020] UKSC 23, the Supreme Court delivered helpful guidance about the scope of the "public interest" defence in section 4 of the Defamation Act 2013. It decided to order a retrial for the libel claim, on the grounds that the Judge's conduct of the trial had been unfair. It also explained how the Court of Appeal's approach had gone awry, addressing valid criticisms made by the defendants and the Media Lawyers' Association (intervener on the appeal).

A podcast - "Seven Points About Serafin" - by Heather Rogers QC and Jonathan Price, who represented the MLA on the appeal - is available here (running time: c17 minutes).

A transcript of the podcast, with added references, is available here.