Protecting
your reputation
Scarlett Johansson has recently won
a court battle in France in relation
to a book which she said made false
allegations about her private life.
Ms Johansson’s claim was based on the
defamation action of libel. It was an attempt
to prevent untrue statements or a storyline
related to her from being published.
The book’s character was based on
the actress, and the character had two
affairs, which Ms Johansson did not
have. She objected to this and said it
was defamatory. The court upheld her
complaint in this regard and the author
was ordered to remove those references
in his book.
Defamation relates to words published
or spoken to third parties that are likely
to cause damage to your reputation.
They can be a direct accusation
against you that is untrue or a negative
implication that identifies you in some
way. A defamatory statement will result
in lowering you in the ‘estimation of
right-thinking members of society’, or
damaging your reputation by exposing
you to ridicule or contempt.
However the court awarded her much
lower damages than she claimed and
refused to prevent the furthe r translation
of the book and the possibility of it being
made into a film.
You don’t have to be famous or a
celebrity to need to protect yourself
against untrue allegations or damage
to your character. Because of the
popularity of the Internet and social
media, people are able to express their
opinions in public forums and make
statements that have the potential to be
defamatory in a much more public and
widespread way.
A statement or accusation can be spread
quickly and circulated by other users. In
a society where people comment and
express opinions using blogs and forums
such as Twitter, a comment can have a
wider and more negative effect. Users
should therefore be mindful of the effect
their posts could have.
So what can be done to protect yourself
if someone says something untrue about
you that will damage your reputation?
Time is of the essence so you must act
quickly. To be able to make a defamation
claim, you will need to show that you have
suffered serious harm to your reputation
as a result of that post or statement.
Gather your evidence and contact the
litigation team at Mayo Wynne Baxter
as soon as possible to get some initial
advice. We can take action on your
behalf to contact the publisher or Internet
provider to take down the statement or
obtain an apology and correction. We can
begin legal proceedings on your behalf to
seek compensation. If the statement or
article has not yet been published, we can
obtain an injunction to prevent publication.
There are several defences that may
also apply and we can advise whether
any of these might be relevant or affect
your claim. In the alternative, if you find
yourself on the other side as the subject
of a claim for defamation because of
something that you have posted or
published, we can advise you on your
options and possible defences.
By Miranda Jenkins
72
The importance of
early
diagnosis
Research shows that in many cases,
the sooner cancer is diagnosed and
treated the better a person’s chance
of recovery.
What then is the impact on a person who
is told that as a result of failings in care,
the opportunity to diagnose their cancer
at an earlier stage was missed?
It is distressing and upsetting enough
for a person to be told that they have
cancer but to realise that there has been
a serious delay in diagnosis is traumatic,
particularly when it can seriously affect
their outcome and prognosis.
In this age of greater transparency, we
are seeing more hospital trusts admit at
an early stage that investigation results
were not followed up and an opportunity
to diagnose was missed but is this
sufficient to establish negligence?
In cases where a hospital trust has
admitted failings in care, it will be
necessary for a claimant to establish that
‘damage’ was caused by these failings.
In the case of Greg v Scott [2005]
UKHL, the defendant misdiagnosed the
claimant’s malignancy, resulting in a
delay in treatment. In this case, `damage`
was defined as not obtaining a `cure`.
The claim unfortunately failed, as it
could not be proved on the balance of
probabilities that with appropriate care a
`cure` could have been achieved.
However in the case of Judge v
Huntington Health Authority [1995] 6
Med LR22 the `damage` in this case
was described as the spreading of an
undiagnosed tumour into the lymph
nodes. This claim was successful as
could be proved that at the time the
breach of duty occurred, the tumour had
not spread into the lymph nodes.
At Mayo Wynne Baxter we recognise
the sensitive nature of claims relating to
a cancer diagnosis and appreciate the
distress a delay in diagnosis can cause, not
only to a claimant but also to their family.
With that in mind, we endeavour to
secure damages at a level that reflects
the significant pain and suffering a
claimant has endured. We also seek
to recover damages for past/future
loss of earnings, care, equipment and
therapy needs. This works to ensure that
claimants are fully compensated for their
loss and have the means to be cared for.
Over the years, our team has
successfully secured compensation
for a number of claimants who have
experienced delay in cancer diagnosis
ranging from three months to three
years. If you or a family member has
experienced a delay in cancer diagnosis,
please contact the Mayo Wynne Baxter
clinical negligence team so that we can
advise you on the merits of bringing
forward a claim.
By Katy Meade
73