The claimant, a trade union, brought claims for, inter alia, defamation against the defendant, its former member. The defendant applied to strike out the defamation claim under CPR r 3.4(2)(a) on the basis that a trade union did not have the right to bring a claim in defamation, contending that under section 10(2) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, a trade union was not to be treated as a body corporate except as expressly authorised, and it was not a juridical person with a reputation that could be defamed.
On the application—
Held, application dismissed. There was no ambiguity in the language of section 10(1) and (2) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, construed according to its natural and ordinary meaning, that a trade union was capable of suing and being sued in its own name in any cause of action, and for such purpose a trade union could be treated as a quasi-corporation. A trade union had a distinct reputation, separate from its members, and had been given sufficient personality under section 10(1) of the 1992 Act to be entitled to bring an action in libel to protect its reputation. In any event, corporate personality or a quasi-corporate status was not determinative of a body’s capability of bringing a defamation action. A trade union was not an organ of government and therefore it was not against the public interest for a trade union to have a right to maintain a claim for defamation to protect its reputation. Accordingly, in the present case, the claimant was entitled to bring a claim for libel in its own name (paras 48–56, 58, 59, 61).
David Lemer (instructed by Pattinson and Brewer Solicitors) for the trade union.
The defendant in person.