Harry Porter Author Requests Unilateral Statement, Sues Daily Mail

Court of Appeal judges have reserved judgment on an attempt by the Daily Mail to prevent elements of a JK Rowling unilateral statement in court following a libel victory over the newspaper.
The best-selling author had sued for libel after the Daily Mail published an article headlined "How JK Rowling's sob story about her past as a single mother has left the churchgoers who cared for her upset and bewildered". 

The newspaper agreed to pay damages, which were donated to charity, and publish an apology.

But Rowling had also demanded the opportunity to make a unilateral statement in open court.

Associated Newspapers does not dispute that Rowling is entitled to such a move, but objects to a number of terms in the proposed draft.

In the latest hearing, Associated Newspapers argued that their objection to a statement does not seek to dilute or qualify the apology from the newspaper. 

But the newspaper group says ordinary members of the public would assume the statement was approved by the court, rather than a personal statement of vindication.

Barrister Andrew Caldecott QC told three Appeal Court judges that the newspaper had been guilty of "poetic licence" rather than dishonesty and that it would be wrong to allow her to "put her spin" on the judgment.

The basis of the newspaper's story was an article that Rowling had written for the single parent charity Gingerbread, of which she is the president. 

She wrote about the time when she was a single mother in Edinburgh, claiming benefits and working part-time as a church clerk, while at the same time writing the first Harry Potter novel.

 

In her original article, she had mentioned an incident which left her feeling stigmatised.

"I remember the woman who visited the church one day when I was working there who kept referring to me, in my hearing, as The Unmarried Mother," she wrote.

"I was half annoyed, half amused: unmarried mother?  Ought I to be allowed in a church at all?  Did she see me in terms of some Victorian painting: The Fallen Woman, Filing, perhaps?"

The Daily Mail's story appeared a week later. Rowling sued, saying it was misleading and unfair and had "injured her reputation and caused her great distress and embarrassment".

The newspaper removed the article from its website and settled the claim, but the author still wants the chance to make the unilateral statement in court, which would then be reported by the media.

Her barrister, Justin Rushbrooke QC, says she wants to be able to correct inaccuracies in the report in her statement.

The Court of Appeal will rule later on the paper's attempt to prevent elements of the statement.

Ms Rowling was not in court for the latest hearing.