Wednesday 12 March 2008

Judges overturn libel ruling on restaurant review

Tuesdays Guardian reports that the northern ireland courts have overturned a decesion to award damages to restaurant who said they had been libelled in a review. Goodfellas pizzeria had been awarded £25,000 last year after they sued for libel.

I'm glad that the ruling has been overturned, as one of the most enjoyable parts of the papers at the weekend is reading either a really great review or a really scathing review and it would have been a shame if the media became afraid to print a bad review because they might end up being sued.

We'd then be deprived of gems such as

  • "I may not be able to call it the worst cooking in Britain, but that's only because I haven't eaten in every restaurant in the land."Jay Rayner, the Observer, on Jaan in the Howard Hotel, Temple Place, London, 2002
  • "Occasionally, you come across a restaurant that causes you to question the very nature of human existence."Matthew Fort, the Guardian, on Opium in Soho, London, 2001
  • "It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine anyone conjuring up a restaurant where the food in its mediocrity comes so close to inedible." Fay Maschler, the Evening Standard, on Chittagong Charlie in Golders Green, London, 1992
The full story can be found here - Judges overturn libel ruling on restaurant review

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