Media spotlight
Graeme McLagan’s four-year libel battle resulted in a victory for freedom of the press. He tells Molly Bennett how Hiscox was on his side all the wayWhen freelance journalist Graeme McLagan wrote his book Bent Coppers: The Inside Story of Scotland Yard’s Battle Against Police Corruption, he and his publisher knew it would be controversial. It’s doubtful, however, that he expected to be in court for the next four years.
McLagan’s publishers, the Orion Publishing Group, backed by their insurers Hiscox, recently won a long battle with an ex-police officer who had accused them of libel. Published in 2003, Bent Coppers investigated allegations of corruption in the Metropolitan Police. One of the police officers named in the book, Michael Charman, backed by the Police Federation, filed a writ for libel against Orion and McLagan.
A preliminary hearing ruled that the book would lead the reader to believe that there were cogent grounds for suspecting that Charman was corrupt.
Orion’s legal team had argued the case using the Reynolds defence of ‘qualified privilege’, which allows publication of unproven allegations that are in the public interest if it is done in a balanced, responsible way.
But in a surprise verdict at the trial in July 2006, the High Court ruled in Charman’s favour and denied Orion and McLagan the qualified privilege defence, roundly slamming the book and concluding that McLagan had not reported on the matter responsibly.
Instead of cutting their losses and paying damages and costs, Orion and Hiscox decided to continue supporting McLagan and took the case to the Court of Appeal. Angela Weaver, an underwriter in Hiscox’s UK & International Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT), says: “We decided to fight the case partly because we believed in the integrity of the author all along, but also because the House of Lords ruling in Jameel v Wall Street Journal reset the benchmark for what might be described as responsible journalism.
“We felt the High Court had erred in our case and could also see that there was an important point of law to be defended that would have a positive impact on all of our clients engaged in investigative journalism.”
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Last October, the Appeals Court found in favour of Orion and McLagan, who hailed the decision as “a victory for solid, responsible investigative journalism”. Andrew Sellers, Head of TMT Claims at Hiscox, said at the time: “I hope that this judgement will encourage other investigative journalists not to shy away from writing on controversial issues for fear of being sued.”
It also has clear implications for insurers and their clients. “Clients tend to focus on price and wording when choosing a policy in a competitive marketplace, but there are some ‘softer’ things that they may miss, which is the reputation and claims handling service of their insurers,” says Angela. “Price is important, the words on that page are important, but there’s more to it: expertise is important.”
Orion had Hiscox’s Publishers’ PI policy, which is more extensive than the standard libel and slander coverage offered by some other insurers. “Very large claims can come from quite small clients, so they should consider their policy limit carefully,” says Angela. “They should have enough to get their case to the House of Lords or Court of Appeal if need be.”