Examination of Witness (Question Number
119)
MR MAX
MOSLEY
10 MARCH 2009
Q119 Chairman: Good morning everybody.
This is the second session of the Committee's inquiry into press
standards, privacy and libel. We are pleased to welcome as our
sole witness this morning the president of the International Automobile
Federation (FIA), Mr Max Mosley. It is fair to say that Mr Mosley
offered to come and give evidence to the Committee but it was
an offer that we were very happy to take up and I would like to
thank you for giving up your time to come here. The reports of
the party that you attended suggested that it had a Nazi theme,
something that you vigorously contested and that lay at the heart
of the judgment. Given that that statement was untrue, why did
you choose to use privacy law rather than a libel action?
Mr Mosley: The libel action, I
was advised, would take probably two years to come on by which
time, as far as I was concerned, particularly internationally,
the damage was done. It was very important to me to get the Nazi
lie, because it was a complete lie and invention, nailed as quickly
as possible. Because the court felt that had I had notice of what
happened I would have got an injunction, the court listened sympathetically
to an application that there should be an expedited trial and
this enabled me to get the matter before a court, before a judge,
a full trial, within three months which is almost unheard of for
a full High Court trial. It put enormous stress, certainly on
the lawyers on my side and I think probably also the other side.
That enabled the issue to come to a full open hearing at court
and to be determined which it was. Of course the libel action
remains open. It would be difficult to sue for libel about the
first edition of the newspaper which was all about the Nazi allegation
because that has been decided and I think the court might feel
that I was overdoing it by suing for libel on that. Where I certainly
can and could sue for libel is on the second edition of the newspaper
where they said that when I denied there was a Nazi element I
was telling a lie. I think they gave me five pages on the second
Sunday saying that I was a liar. That clearly is defamatory and
the question then arises as to whether to sue them for that or
not. That is still under consideration because I will have to
make my mind up about that definitely by the end of July.
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