Conlon v Times Newspapers Ltd
Jurisdiction | Ireland |
Judgment Date | 01 January 1995 |
Date | 01 January 1995 |
Court | High Court |
- Striking out - Motion to strike out proceedings for failure to show reasonable cause of action or for being unsustainable and bound to fail - Questions to be decided at preliminary stage not whether words are "capable" of being defamatory but whether it is "arguable" that they are capable of such a meaning.
The plaintiff instituted proceedings against the defendant seeking damages for an alleged defamation. The alleged defamation was contained in an article written by a film critic as an agent of the defendant. The defendant issued a motion seeking an order striking out the plaintiff's claim on the grounds that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action, or alternatively, that it was clearly unsustainable and bound to fail. Held by Murphy J. in refusing to grant the relief sought: (1) It was necessary to recognise in principle the significant distinction between an application to a trial judge to withdraw a case from a jury during the trial of the action and an application to have that action struck out before it even reaches the trial stage. (2) The court has the power and inherent jurisdiction to strike out a case at a preliminary stage. D.K. v. A.K.DLRM [1993] ILRM 710 and Drummond-Jackson v. British Medical Association [1970] 1W.L.R. 688 considered. (3) In an application to strike out proceedings at a preliminary stage it is necessary to show that the action is clearly unsustainable. Here the question to be determined was not the 'capability' of the words to bear a particular meaning, but the 'arguability' as to whether the words were capable of such a meaning. Whether the words are capable of bearing a...
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