The Duke of Sussex has withdrawn his libel case against the Mail on Sunday and now faces an estimated legal bill of more than £750,000.
Lose, or here withdraw, you pay the other bloke’s costs.
A few years back I was clearly libelled. Deliberately, with malice and aforethought. A company I’d covered claimed – to my employers at the time – that I’d tried to blackmail them. Pay me a fee or I’ll write bad stuff about you. They made the mistake of sending this claim to an English employer of mine – brings English libel law into operation.
Now, obviously I would win. But there’s still £50k – minimum – that has to be committed upfront. And, well, no, didn’t do it.
That it’s very difficult to enforce English libel settlements in the US is one reason why not…..
Only legal case I remember considering was when Lianne asked me how much money my father had left me. So I told her A$50 000, and I’d spend it all on lawyers to stop her damned wind chimes.
Rob was a trifle disconcerted by this. But they took down the wind chimes. Rob later thanked me quietly. I suspect he loathed the bloody things as much as I did.
Has he found his Privacy yet?
Also, does he *identify* as a Duke (how progressive of him) or what? It’s hard to keep up with these gimps.
Not a comment on the merits of your own claim but . . .
There’s a good reason why we in the US have little regard for libel awards made under UK law.