Smart Shirts Limited v Sheffield Hallam University

In determining the meaning of allegedly defamatory publications, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning which the hypothetical reasonable reader would take from the publication read as a whole and in context. The court may choose a meaning not advanced by either party, subject to the pleaded ceiling on seriousness. The Chase levels provide shorthand for degrees of culpability: an allegation of fact, reasonable grounds to suspect the fact, and grounds for investigation. A publication may carry a level 2 meaning where research and findings give reasonable grounds for suspicion, but qualifications and invitations to respond prevent a definitive level 1 meaning. An annex forming part of a publication may be relevant to meaning, although the reasonable reader may not necessarily read it.

Smart Shirts Limited brought a libel claim against Sheffield Hallam University concerning a report on apparel supply chains and an email sent before publication seeking responses from companies mentioned in the report. The report concerned alleged connections between suppliers and forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The preliminary issues trial concerned the natural and ordinary meanings of the email and report, whether those meanings referred to ongoing circumstances and materials beyond cotton, whether Annex A formed part of the report, the appropriate Chase level, and whether the meanings were defamatory at common law.

1. Meaning of the email. The email meant that Smart Shirts was a purchaser of textile inputs or apparel products from companies sourcing material inputs and labour from XUAR, a region known for forced labour. The meaning was factual and concerned an ongoing situation. It was a Chase level 2 meaning because the email referred to extensive research and findings already reached, but its qualifications, request for clarification and recognition that supply chains change prevented a level 1 meaning. A level 3 meaning was insufficiently serious.
2. Status of Annex A. Annex A formed part of the report. Its inclusion in the contents, references in the Executive Summary and links within the report distinguished it from a separate third-party hyperlink. The reasonable reader would not necessarily read it, however, and its contents did not materially alter the sting of the report.
3. Meaning of the report. The report meant that Smart Shirts was owned by Zhejiang Sunrise; Zhejiang Sunrise sourced from, and was likely operating in, the Uyghur Region; its supply chain was rooted there; it was directly or indirectly engaged in state-sponsored labour transfer programmes and allegedly North Korean forced labour; and Smart Shirts was implicated by association. The meaning concerned an ongoing situation and materials beyond cotton.
4. Defamation and level. Both meanings were statements of fact and defamatory at common law. The report carried substantial grounds for suspecting involvement in sourcing material tainted by forced labour, rather than a definitive finding or merely grounds for investigation. Both publications therefore bore a Chase level 2 meaning. Costs were in the case.