Published 15 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4269
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4269

News

Science writer wins right to appeal against libel ruling over comments on chiropractors

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The science broadcaster and writer Simon Singh has been granted leave to appeal in the libel action brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association.

In August Dr Singh was refused the right to appeal against a ruling made by Mr Justice Eady, in which he said that an article by Dr Singh for the Guardian newspaper was defamatory and alleged that the association was happy to promote bogus treatments (BMJ 2009;339:b3166, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3166). But that ruling has been overturned by Lord Justice Laws, who said that Mr Justice Eady had risked swinging the balance of rights too far in favour of the right to reputation and against the right to free expression. Lord Justice Laws described the previous judgment as "legally erroneous."

In the Guardian article, published on 19 April 2008 (which has been removed from the newspaper’s website), Dr Singh criticised the British Chiropractic Association for . . . [Full text of this article]

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