British actor Noel Clarke has been ordered to pay \u00a33 million in damages to The Guardian after losing a libel case against the publication.<\/p>\n
In 2021, Clarke was the subject of seven articles and a podcast by The Guardian regarding allegations of sexual misconduct. One specific article, published in April 2021, alleged that 20 women had accused Clarke of acting inappropriately in a professional capacity, which he denied. He subsequently unsuccessfully sued the newspaper for \u00a370 million in damages.<\/p>\n
Last month, a judge denied Clarke\u2019s claim in her judgment and said The Guardian \u201csucceeded in establishing both truth and public interest defences to the libel claim\u201d.<\/p>\n
On September 23rd, Clarke represented himself at a hearing in London and heard that it was ruled that he must pay an initial \u00a33 million. A further assessment will be made into The Guardian\u2019s legal costs, which are believed to be \u201csignificantly in excess of \u00a36 million\u201d.<\/p>\n
Judge Mrs Justice Steyn told the court: \u201cThe claimant maintained a far-fetched and indeed a false case that the articles were not substantially true, by pursuing allegations of dishonesty and bad faith against almost all of the defendant\u2019s truth witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steyn said the \u00a33 million figure was \u201cappropriate and no more than what ought to be reasonably ordered in this case\u201d and also claimed the fee is \u201csubstantially lower than the defendant\u2019s likely level of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarke, who told the court he used ChatGPT to help with his response, said at the hearing, \u201cI have lost my work, my savings, my legal team, my ability to support my family and much of my health. My wife and children live every day under the shadow of uncertainty. We remortgaged our home just to survive. Any costs or interim payments must be proportionate to my means as a single household, not the unlimited resources of a major media conglomerate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, following the ruling of the libel case, The Guardian\u2019s editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said the result is \u201ca deserved victory for those women who suffered because of the behaviour of Noel Clarke\u201d. She continued: \u201cGoing to court is difficult and stressful, yet more than 20 women agreed to testify in the High Court, refusing to be bullied or intimidated.<\/p>\n
He has been ordered to pay the \u00a33 million within the next 28 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
British actor Noel Clarke has been ordered to pay \u00a33 million in damages to The Guardian after losing a libel case against the publication. In … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n