John v Mirror Group [1996] 2 All ER 35

Plaintiff published an article claiming that Defendant had an eating disorder and Plaintiff sued Defendant for defamation.

This was accepted, but Plaintiff tried to claim exemplary damages on the grounds that Defendant’s standard of journalism had been very poor and had not tried to verify the facts.

CA held that the exemplary damages granted at first instance (£250k) were excessive as the story did not attack Plaintiff’s personal integrity.

• Exemplary damages could only be granted where the defendant had no general belief in the truth of what he had published and had been motivated by a cynical calculation that publication was to his mercenary advantage AND a sum calculated on the ordinary basis was inadequate as a punishment/deterrent.