Defamation: reflecting on the ‘Wagatha Christie’ story

Over the last week, discussions surrounding the Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy case have been resurrected, with Coleen’s appearance on the popular ITV programme, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. 

In 2019, Coleen published a social media post alleging that Rebekah Vardy had sold false stories about her to the press. Rebekah denied the claims and commenced proceedings for libel but lost the case against Coleen in 2022.

What is Defamation?

Defamatory words are those which tend to lower the victim in the estimation of right -thinking members of society generally.  Defamation occurs when false statements, spoken or published, harm an individual’s or an entity’s reputation.

Legal Tests to bring a successful defamation claim

In order to prove defamation, Rebekah Vardy needed to demonstrate the following elements:

• False Statement: The statement must be false and presented as a fact rather than an opinion.
• Publication: The false statement must be communicated to a third party, either in written, spoken, or published form.
• Identification: The statement must identify the individual or business clearly.
• Harm: The false statement must have caused harm to the individual or business’s reputation, resulting in quantifiable damages.

The defence of Truth 

Section 2(1) of the Defamation Act 2013 provides there is a defence to an action for defamation for the defendant to show that the statement complained of is substantially true. Truth is an absolute defence to a defamation claim, as a claimant should not be entitled to recover damages for injury to a reputation they did not deserve to have in the first place.

In defamation claims, there is a legal presumption in favour of the claimant that a defamatory statement is false, meaning that the burden of proof reverses and in the Vardy v Rooney example, it was for Coleen Rooney to prove that her words were substantially true.

The judge ruled that Rebekah Vardy was, in fact, actively engaged in the leaks from various social media platforms, and as truth is an absolute defence to a defamation claim, the judge’s finding meant that Rebekah Vardy’s claim was dismissed in its entirety, and she has had to pay substantial costs.

How Pinney Talfourd can help

Defamation poses a substantial threat to both individual and business reputation, revenue, and relationships. At Pinney Talfourd LLP, we are dedicated to safeguarding our clients’ interests by providing expert legal guidance in navigating the intricacies of defamation law.