Latest news with #Stroud-based
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Energy boss' claim against publisher thrown out
Dale Vince's High Court claim against a newspaper publisher has been thrown out. Mr Vince, industrialist and founder of Stroud-based energy firm, Ecotricity, brought legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over a Daily Mail article headlined "Labour repays £100,000 to sex pest donor", published in June 2023. The story said Labour was handing back money to donor Davide Serra with a picture showing Mr Vince holding a Just Stop Oil banner. Mr Vince claimed ANL misused his personal data, but the judge said it should have been heard with the defamation claim in July 2024 as "any ordinary reader would very quickly realise Mr Vince was not being accused of sexual harassment". More news stories for Gloucestershire Listen to the latest news for Gloucestershire An employment tribunal in 2022 heard Mr Serra had made sexist comments to a female colleague which were found to amount to unlawful harassment related to sex. The original picture remained in print but was changed on The Mail+ app to one of Mr Serra 47 minutes after publication. ANL had defended the claim and its lawyers previously told the High Court in London it was an abuse of process and a "resurrection" of a libel claim that was dismissed last year. Mr Justice Swift said at the High Court on Monday: "There is no real prospect that Mr Vince will succeed on his claim. "As in the defamation proceedings, it is accepted that on reading the text of the article published in Mail+ and the Daily Mail any ordinary reader would very quickly realise that Mr Vince was not being accused of sexual harassment. "Considered on this basis the personal data relating to Mr Vince was processed fairly." He said there was "every reason" why the data protection claim should have been heard with the defamation claim last year. Following the decision, Mr Vince said he planned to appeal and the relevant media law "predates the internet". He said: "The judge said if you read the whole story, you'd realise the headline was not about me, begging the question why was my face highlighted in the articles perhaps. "But more importantly, people don't read entire articles, the law assumes it - but does so wrongly, against all data and against common sense." Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Green energy boss settles High Court libel case
BBC News
25-02-2025
- BBC News
Dale Vince settles High Court libel claim with Daily Mail owner
The green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince is to receive £40,000 in damages from the publisher of the Daily Mail after settling a High Court libel Vince took legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) in December over an article published in October, which falsely alleged he supported Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and lawyers told the High Court the article, which was published online and in the Mail on Sunday, was "highly defamatory" and had caused "serious harm to his reputation".Lawyers for ANL apologised, saying the publisher acknowledged the allegation "was untrue and that Mr Vince does not support Hamas in any way". Mr Vince's lawyer, Annabell Hood, told the court on Monday the 63-year-old had previously been "falsely accused" of supporting Hamas in a separate article published by the Daily Mail and online in March case was settled last year, with ANL apologising and paying damages, which Ms Hood said Mr Vince had donated to settlement also included "an undertaking by the defendant not to publish similar allegations in the future". 'Significant distress' But Ms Hood said that a second article, written by Dan Hodges, was published in October that "falsely alleged that Mr Vince had supported or defended the terrorist acts of Hamas".She said the publication of that article caused Mr Vince significant distress, because he reasonably expected a national newspaper to comply with its Greene, for ANL, said the publication of the article was "an error which should not have happened"."The defendant acknowledges that the allegation made in Mr Hodges' article about Mr Vince is untrue and that Mr Vince does not support Hamas in any way."We formally retract and withdraw the allegation."Ms Hood said that Mr Vince, who founded Stroud-based green energy company Ecotricity, and who is also the co-owner of National League football team Forest Green Rovers, intended to also donate the latest awarded damages to the hearing, Mr Vince said ANL "broke a promise not to repeat a false allegation".He said: "Their cash is on the way to Gaza again. People that support Palestinian rights are not terrorists and free speech is not the freedom to be dishonest."A settlement occurs in High Court libel cases when both parties reach an agreement before the court delivers a final judgement. Under the terms of the settlement, ANL will also pay £30,000 of Mr Vince's legal costs and will publish an apology online and in The Mail on Sunday within 14 days.
