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Defamation and Media

Reputation is everything and where yours is at risk of being irreparably damaged you need to act quickly to stop this happening. Whether you are the subject of spurious allegations or unfounded malicious gossip these are steps you can take to prevent untruths about you or your business being repeated and to ensure you receive compensation for any harm caused.

These steps include applying for a injunction to bring an immediate stop to the publication of stories about you that are untrue, together with the issuing of defamation proceedings to claim appropriate recompense.

What are defamation proceedings?

Defamation proceedings are a type of legal claim issued against the person you accuse of defaming you, either by printing untruths (which is libel) or speaking untruths (which is slander). To succeed in this type of claim you need to prove that:

  • what has been said or printed is untrue and is likely to lower public opinion of you;
  • it is obvious that the statement that has been made references you or your business and even where you are not specifically named it would be possible to identify you from what has been said or written; and 
  • the offending statement has been communicated to at least one other person.

In slander cases only, you will also usually need to show that as a result of the statement has been made you have suffered some form of financial harm.

A claim for defamation must be commenced within a year of the offending statement being made and ideally much earlier to maximise the value of your claim.

In addition to defamation proceedings, or sometimes alongside them, you may also be able to bring a claim for malicious falsehood where you can shows that an untrue statement has been made against you or your business with the deliberate intention of damaging your interests or causing you economic harm.

How can IMD Solicitors help?

Our experienced dispute resolution lawyers can help you by:

  • preventing the publication or broadcast of stories and pictures by media outlets obtained through a gross invasion of your privacy;
  • forcing internet service providers to remove offending online posts;
  • restraining commercial competitors from repeating untruths designed to damage your business interests; and
  • blocking the publication of information obtained as result of a media sting.

Marcin Durlak

Managing Partner View profile
Key contact

Olexandr Kyrychenko

Partner View profile

Zoya Burbeza

Senior Consultant Solicitor View profile

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Why choose IMD Solicitors?

Our experienced dispute resolution solicitors have dealt with a large number of defamation and malicious falsehood claims and are well versed in the steps that need to be taken to ensure untruths about you are not being repeated, that a public apology is made where required and that those responsible for making the offending statement are duly punished.

We have an impressive success rate in achieving out court settlements and and equally impressive record winning highly contested cases.With offices in London, Birmingham and Manchester we are ideally placed to attend hearings at any UK High Court hearing centre.

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IMD Solicitors LLP,
1st Floor,
63 St Mary Axe,
London ,
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(0044) 203 195 8499

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