Mediahuis UK asks High Court to strike out Sinn Féin constituency organiser’s defamation claim

On Tuesday, Mr Justice Charles Meenan reserved his decision on an application by Mediahuis and Ms Breen asking him to strike out Mr Lappin’s claims of defamation and injurious falsehood against them.

The media group’s senior counsel, Ronan Kennedy, told the judge the article in question is “not about the plaintiff at all” and the meaning Mr Lappin claims can be inferred from it “stretches credulity”. The words of the article, said counsel, are “not reasonably capable” of bearing the meanings pleaded by Mr Lappin in his legal documents. The legal test the court must apply is whether a reasonable reader would come to the conclusion advanced by Mr Lappin.

Mr Lappin’s senior counsel, Thomas Hogan, said the court must decide if it would be perverse for a jury to find in favour of his client based on the meaning of the article.

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