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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions >> Brett Wilson LLP v Person(s) Unknown, Responsible for the Operation and Publication of the Website www.solicitorsfromhelluk.com [2015] EWHC 2628 (QB) (16 September 2015) URL: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2015/2628.html Cite as: [2016] WLR(D) 173, [2016] 4 WLR 69, [2016] 1 All ER 1006, [2015] EWHC 2628 (QB), [2016] EMLR 2 |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
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Brett Wilson LLP |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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Person(s) Unknown, Responsible for the Operation and Publication of the website www.solicitorsfromhelluk.com |
Defendant(s) |
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No appearance for or on behalf of the Defendants
Hearing date: 7 September 2015
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Warby:
"Where a party fails to appear at the hearing of an application the court may proceed in their absence: CPR 23.11. This is a power that must be exercised in accordance with the overriding objective. Ms Page properly referred me to authority making it clear that the court should be very careful before concluding that it is appropriate to proceed in the absence of a litigant in person who is seeking for the first time to adjourn a hearing: Fox v Graham Group Ltd (26 July 2001) (Neuberger J); SmithKline Beecham Ltd v GSKline Ltd [2011] EWHC 169 (Ch) (Arnold J), [6]. That is not the situation here, however. The defendant has not sought an adjournment. …
Where a litigant fails to appear without giving a reason it is necessary to consider first whether they have had proper notice of the hearing date and the matters, including the evidence, to be considered at the hearing. If satisfied that such notice has been given, the court must examine the available evidence as to the reasons why the litigant has not appeared, to see if this provides a ground for adjourning the hearing."
"This rule enables the court to proceed on the basis of the claimant's unchallenged particulars of claim. There is no need to adduce evidence or for findings of fact to be made in cases where the defendant has not disputed the claimant's allegations. That in my judgment will normally be the right approach for the court to take. Examination of the merits will usually involve unnecessary expenditure of time and resources and hence [be] contrary to the overriding objective. It also runs the risk of needlessly complicating matters if an application is later made to set aside the default judgment: see QRS v Beach [2014] EWHC 4189 (QB), [2015] 1 WLR 2701 esp at [53]-[56]. "
"(1) A court does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine an action for defamation brought against a person who was not the author, editor or publisher of the statement complained of unless the court is satisfied that it is not reasonably practicable for an action to be brought against the author, editor or publisher."
"(2) For this purpose "author", "editor" and "publisher" have the following meanings, which are further explained in subsection (3)—
"author" means the originator of the statement, but does not include a person who did not intend that his statement be published at all;
"editor" means a person having editorial or equivalent responsibility for the content of the statement or the decision to publish it; and
"publisher" means a commercial publisher, that is, a person whose business is issuing material to the public, or a section of the public, who issues material containing the statement in the course of that business.
(3) A person shall not be considered the author, editor or publisher of a statement if he is only involved—
(a) in printing, producing, distributing or selling printed material containing the statement;
(b) in processing, making copies of, distributing, exhibiting or selling a film or sound recording (as defined in Part I of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) containing the statement;
(c) in processing, making copies of, distributing or selling any electronic medium in or on which the statement is recorded, or in operating or providing any equipment, system or service by means of which the statement is retrieved, copied, distributed or made available in electronic form;
(d) as the broadcaster of a live programme containing the statement in circumstances in which he has no effective control over the maker of the statement;
(e) as the operator of or provider of access to a communications system by means of which the statement is transmitted, or made available, by a person over whom he has no effective control.
In a case not within paragraphs (a) to (e) the court may have regard to those provisions by way of analogy in deciding whether a person is to be considered the author, editor or publisher of a statement."
"(a) The Claimant is a shameless, corrupt, fraudulent, dishonest, unethical, incompetent and oppressive firm of solicitors which does not provide competent services, has had a justified complaint made against them and whose wrongdoing should be exposed to prevent others from suffering by instructing them.
(b) The Claimant unscrupulously inflates costs.
(c) The quality of the Claimant's work is sub-standard and poor value for money.
(d) The Claimant's staff and/or partners are guilty of committing the imprisonable offence of harassment contrary to section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
(e) The Claimant breaches its professional obligations and acts contrary to the Solicitors Regulation Authority's Code of Conduct.
(f) The Claimant's staff and/or partners are rude, threatening, intimidating and unprofessional.
(g) The Claimant 'strong-armed' payment from a former client that was not owed or warranted and thus committed an offence contrary to section 40 of the Administration of Justice of Act 1970.
(h) Prospective clients seeking to instruct the Claimant will receive sub-standard advice and lose out financially."
i) The claimant is a "'boutique' firm of solicitors based in London" with two departments, one specialising in "defamation, privacy and harassment law", and the other in "criminal litigation, civil fraud, regulatory and disciplinary proceedings" (para 2).
ii) "The firm is relatively small and is only five years old. Traditionally it has attracted a considerable amount of work from the internet. Where work comes from a different source, it is usual for the prospective client to undertake some sort of 'due dilligence', this would typically involve a Google search." (para 21).
iii) For six months, Google searches for Brett Wilson LLP or Brett Wilson solicitors have produced the following result and snippet within the top five listings, immediately below links to the firm's own website (para 19):
"SOLICITORS FROM HELL - Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors ...
[web address given]
Rude, intimidating and threatening. Clients should stay well away from Brett Wilson Solicitors.Have you complained about your solicitor and got nowhere?"
iv) "… the publication has been read, and will inevitably continue to be read, by a number of prospective clients considering instructing the Claimant and undertaking research on the Claimant's reputation" (para 22).
v) "It is inevitable that a number of prospective clients who have read (or will read) the snippet and publication have decided (or will decide) not to instruct Brett Wilson LLP as a result of what has been published."
vi) "The loss of a single instruction can cost the firm tens of thousands of pounds (and in some instances more)."
vii) "… on 20 April 2015 a litigation opponent raised the publication as evidence that the Claimant was a disreputable firm."
viii) "… on 25 July 2015 a prospective client who had previoulsy indicated he wished to instruct the firm withdrew his instructions as a result of the publication."
ix) "It can be inferred that there will have been a far greater number of instances where an individual has read the publication or search result snippet and not notified the Claimant. That is, they have simply decided to 'go elsewhere'. …"
x) "The Claimant believe[s] that there has been a noticeable drop in the conversion of enquiries from prospective clients to instructions over the past six months. …"
xi) The Claimant has suffered financial loss …"
"9.— Meaning of summary relief.
(1) For the purposes of section 8 (summary disposal of claim) "summary relief" means such of the following as may be appropriate—
(a) a declaration that the statement was false and defamatory of the plaintiff;
(b) an order that the defendant publish or cause to be published a suitable correction and apology;
(c) damages not exceeding £10,000 or such other amount as may be prescribed by order of the Lord Chancellor;
(d) an order restraining the defendant from publishing or further publishing the matter complained of.