UKSC/2019/0156

Serafin (Respondent) v Malkiewicz and others (Appellants)

Judgment given

Case summary


Case ID

UKSC/2019/0156

Parties

Appellant(s)

Grzegorz Malkiewicz

Czas Publishers Ltd

Teresa Bazarnik-Malkiewicz

Respondent(s)

Jan Tomasz Serafin

Issue

The breadth of the public interest defence in section 4 Defamation Act 2013 and in particular, whether the defence is available where the allegations complained of relate to an individual’s private conduct towards a body in relation to which there is a public interest, rather than to the running of that body; Whether the CA was entitled to interfere with the judge’s factual findings; Whether rudeness, and/or "descending into the arena" on the part of the judge can be sufficient to render a trial unfair.

Facts

The Appellants published an article about Mr Serafin in a Polish-language monthly magazine widely read by the London Polish community, which alleged that he had fraudulently profited at the expense of the charitable organisations for which he volunteered, and that he obtained a series of loans and investments into his business from various individuals, including two women with whom he was in simultaneous intimate relationships, and then stole their money for himself. At trial, Mr Justice Jay was highly critical of Mr Serafin, found most of their allegations proved, and held that the public interest defence applied to all of them.

Date of issue

15 July 2019

Judgment appealed

Judgment details


Judgment date

3 June 2020

Neutral citation

[2020] UKSC 23

Judgment summary

3 June 2020

Appeal


Justices

Hearing dates

Full hearing

Start date

17 March 2020

End date

18 March 2020

Watch hearings


17 March 2020 - Morning session

17 March 2020 - Afternoon session

18 March 2020 - Morning session

Change log

Last updated 16 April 2024

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