Andrei, the owner of a football club, brought proceedings ag…
Andrei, the owner of a football club, brought proceedings against Abbas, a freelance investigative journalist, for libel in relation to an article Abbas published on his website. In the article Abbas made serious allegations against Andrei including that Andrei had been involved in a number of criminal acts whilst managing the football club; had assaulted Jada, the club’s senior physiotherapist, and had bribed two individuals to prevent them giving evidence at a trial in favour of a coach who had brought a claim against Andrei for bullying and harassment. Abbas failed to acknowledge service of the proceedings because he was abroad investigating another story. When he returned home, he found that a judgment had been entered against him two months previously. Abbas immediately applied to set aside the judgment based on the fact that the statements made in the article were true and that he can produce evidence, including taped interviews with Jada and several other individuals, which support this. What is the correct advice to give Abbas regarding the likely outcome of his application, and why? It is likely to be granted; Abbas has acted promptly, he has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, and there is some other good reason why he should be allowed to defend the claim given the seriousness of the libel allegation which should have a public hearing. It is likely to be dismissed; there has been a marked failure to make the application promptly and the court regards this of paramount importance even in cases where a defence is likely to succeed at trial. It is likely to be dismissed; Abbas has not acted promptly and as the application to set aside judgment is treated as an application for relief from a sanction, he is unlikely to show he is entitled to have relief in all the circumstances. It is likely to be granted; although the court is unlikely to find that there is some other good reason why he should be allowed to defend the claim, Abbas has acted promptly and his defence has a real prospect of success.