Baturina v Times Newspapers Ltd

A defamation claim dependent on innuendo requires a realistic prospect of proving that readers possessed the extrinsic facts giving the words their defamatory meaning. Readers with special knowledge should normally be identified, although sufficiently widespread knowledge may sometimes support an inference. For foreign publication, the claimant must address double actionability and the relevant foreign law.

Liability for republication depends on foreseeability of both the further publication and the increased reputational damage. A third party’s publication which adds new defamatory allegations may constitute a novus actus interveniens. A bare repetition may be actionable where the necessary knowledge and foreseeability are established. The Jameel abuse principle does not justify striking out a claim capable of achieving meaningful vindication.

Elena Baturina sued Times Newspapers Ltd over articles alleging that she had acquired Witanhurst through an offshore company. The alleged defamatory meanings depended principally on innuendo: readers were said to know of Russian disclosure obligations and to know that Witanhurst had not appeared in the Claimant’s declaration.

The Defendant applied under CPR Part 24 for strike-out or summary judgment, challenging the pleaded meanings, alleged republications, and the claim’s utility under Jameel (Yousef) v Dow Jones Inc. The central issues were whether the innuendo claims had a realistic prospect of success and whether liability could extend to publications in Russia or third-party repetitions.

1. Disposition. The claim could proceed in limited respects. The Claimant was permitted to amend to address the deficiencies identified in the pleading. The claim relating to Russian hard-copy publication survived, subject to proof of the relevant knowledge and Russian actionability. A properly pleaded claim concerning third-party publications which merely repeated the original allegation could also survive.
2. Innuendo. The articles’ allegation that the Claimant acquired Witanhurst was not defamatory without more. The claim therefore depended on a viable innuendo. For English publication, readers said to possess the necessary extrinsic knowledge would ordinarily have to be specifically pleaded and identified. The court would not presume a substantial but unquantifiable readership with knowledge of the Russian decree, the Claimant’s declaration, and the asserted legal consequence. The same reasoning applied to the short-lived Internet publication, absent positive evidence of relevant readers.
3. Foreign publication. The English law of innuendo applied regardless of the place of publication. For Russian publication, however, the Claimant also had to establish double actionability, including actionability under Russian law. Expert evidence would be required on the relevant Russian law and on the matters necessary to establish the alleged meaning.
4. Republication. The governing inquiry was foreseeability. The Claimant had to show that a reasonable person in the Defendant’s position should have appreciated a significant risk of repetition and that the repetition would increase the damage caused by the original publication. Causation alone was insufficient. Publications which went beyond the original allegation and directly accused the Claimant of dishonesty would ordinarily be a novus actus interveniens; no sufficient basis had been shown for holding the Defendant responsible for that category. A publication merely repeating the original allegation could, in principle, support a claim if the required knowledge and foreseeability were established.
5. Abuse of process. The principles in Jameel (Yousef) v Dow Jones Inc had no application where the Claimant might establish an innuendo capable of securing some measure of vindication. The surviving issues were to be properly particularised, including the words, meanings, extrinsic facts, relevant readers, and applicable Russian law. Costs budgeting was to be addressed once the issues for trial had been finally identified.