Mill Media libel claim thrown out as Lammy promises SLAPPs action
Freelance journalist Cormac Kehoe and Mill Media founder Joshi Herrmann outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Picture: Mill Media A libel claim brought against local news publisher Mill Media has been thrown out as deputy prime minister David Lammy promised action against such groundless lawsuits intended to silence public interest reporting. The publisher has nonetheless been left with costs of around £40,000 which it may not be able to recoup from the businessman whose activities it exposed. A County Court judgment for £10,000 made against Cormac Kehoe, a freelance reporter for Mill Media, was thrown out last week after a judge ruled it was an “abuse of process”. The same High Court judge also brought an end to a wider libel claim brought against Kehoe, Mill Media founder Joshi Herrmann and Mill Media itself in relation to the same story about entrepreneur Claudio De Giovanni’s alleged business activities, published by The Londoner in August last year. The court action was condemned by Mill Media as a SLAPP (a strategic lawsuit against public participation). …
