260 Chapter 9Nuisance, trespass, defamation and vicarious liability
So once it has been pointed out to an Internet service provider that material which they
publish is defamatory then they will have to remove the material immediately in order to
escape liability.Offer of amends
Sections 2– 4 of the Defamation Act 1996 allow a defendant who did not know, and had no
reason to believe, that his statement referred to the claimant and defamed him to offer to
make amends. There are four requirements:
(i) The offer must be in writing.
(ii) It must correct and apologise for the original statement.
(iii) It must offer to publish the correction and apology.
(iv) It must also offer to compensate the claimant and pay his legal expenses.
If the claimant accepts the offer of amends then no action can later be brought in respect of
the defamatory statement. If the claimant does not accept, the defendant can raise the offer
of amends as a defence.Absolute privilege
Absolute privilege allows for statements made in certain contexts to be immune from liabil-
ity for defamation. The contexts are parliamentary proceedings, communications between
high-ranking civil servants, statements made in court cases, fair and accurate reports of
court proceedings and some solicitor–client communications.Qualified privilege
Qualified privilege is not an absolute defence but it can be a defence as long as the statement
was not published with malice. The defence applies where the defendant has a duty or an
interest to pass on information about the claimant to a third party and the third party has a
duty or an interest to receive the information. An example would be passing information to
the police to help detect a crime.Fair comment
A person who acted without malice can have a defence of fair comment when commenting
on matters of public interest.Remedies
Damages
Damages for defamation are designed to compensate the claimant for loss of reputation. It
follows that a defendant who already had a poor reputation is unlikely to receive as much
in damages as a person who had a good reputation. In cases heard before a jury it is the
jury which sets the level of damages and this has led to some very high awards being
made. However, the Court of Appeal has the power to reduce any award to the amount
which seems proper. The way in which the statement was published and the extent of the
publication will be relevant factors in quantifying damages.Injunction
A defendant may seek an injunction to prevent further publication of a defamatory
statement.