WIN: High Court throws out £8m lawsuit over tax avoidance investigation

The High Court has dismissed an £8m defamation claim brought against a journalist, branding it “spectacularly inflated” and intentionally “oppressive”.

The claim, brought by barrister Setu Kamal, related to an article by tax law expert Dan Neidle which criticised Kamal’s involvement in a dodgy tax avoidance scheme.

After Kamal made a failed application for an injunction which the court said contained “a catalogue of procedural and substantive failings”, he issued an extraordinary claim against Dan for more than £8m.

Our defamation lawyer, Matthew Gill, supported Neidle to defend the claim. Together, we brought the first application under new legislation designed to protect people who speak truth to power from abusive lawsuits.

Mrs Justice Collins Rice found that while Neidle’s article was “extensively reasoned, sourced, and cross-referenced”, Kamal’s claim was “spectacularly inflated”, intentionally “oppressive” and that he had made arguments which were an abuse of the court’s processes.

The court also called Kamal’s reliance on fake cases generated by AI “unacceptable” and found that he had repeatedly failed to follow court rules.

Justice Collins Rice added that Kamal’s behaviour had been “intended to, and did, have a chilling effect on [Neidle’s] journalism.” He had gone beyond ordinary litigation tactics and taken unacceptable steps to try and intimidate and silence Neidle through the courts.

We supported Dan’s case to shine a light on the legal threats and intimidation those who speak truth to power face on a daily basis.

The “anti-SLAPP law” under which Dan’s application succeeded allows courts to throw out oppressive legal cases at an early stage, where the purpose of the case is to seek to silence journalism.

But that law only protects journalists who expose economic crimes, such as possible tax fraud. Aggressive lawsuits intended to silence journalists, activists, and victims are pursued in relation to many other issues too.

The government must legislate to make sure these new laws are extended to protect survivors of sexual violence, environment defenders, and others who face equally oppressive lawsuits. We’ll keep the pressure on ministers until they do.