Alert: Offer of amends taken into account in damages award (Lisle-Mainwaring v Associated Newspapers)

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IP & IT analysis: This judgment relates to an application for assessment of compensation pursuant to section 3(5) of the Defamation Act 1996. The claimant had painted a building near Kensington Square in loud red and white vertical stripes as an act of retaliation against objections to her planning application for development of the site and change of use. This prompted the publication of a number of defamatory stories by the Daily Mail and the Mail Online, which related to disputes between the claimant and her family. The court awarded £54,000 in damages. The amount awarded was based on first assessing compensation for libel on the basis of a suitable award following a trial at which there had been no significant aggravation or mitigation, and then making a reduction to account for a qualified offer of amends. The starting figure for the award was assessed at £90,000, and that figure was discounted by 40% to take account...