Today in lawsuits: Little, Brown libel, Orion case continues

By Sarah on July 20, 2006 8:04 AM

The Court of Appeals in the UK is about to announce whether a suit against Little, Brown launched by a former Sudanese Ambassador and his wife over the 2004 book SLAVE will continue, with a decision expected by the end of the month.
The Bookseller reports that former Sudanese ambassador and press attachÃ© Abdel Mahmoud Al-Koronky and his wife Hanan Ibrahim Mohammed vigorously deny accounts made by Mende Nazer in her book (published by Virago in 2004) that she worked for them as a slave, suing the publisher are Nazer’s co-author, Damien Lewis, last July.

Justice Eady, after saying that the case was “troubling”, with “serious allegations of dishonesty, ruled that the claimants had to provide security worth Â£375,000 for costs before continuing with the libel action, saying: “I have little doubt that if the defendants succeed in their defence it can only be after spending vast sums of money in addition to the costs already incurred.”

Meanwhile, the trade broadsheet also reports that in a separate case, Justice Gray has rejected Orion’s defence of qualified privilege in the BENT COPPERS libel case, in a decision that Orion fears will have a “chilling effect” on the ability of publishers to release comparable books in the future. “Frankly we are advised that he [the judge] just got it wrong,” said CEO Peter Roche. “Our barrister advises us we have a very good chance of success at appeal.”