Arlene Foster suing Dr Christian

[MissyB1]

Apparently he tweeted that she was having an affair (without any proof), and the way he put it was a spiteful little jibe about her being a “sanctity of marriage preaching woman” adding “it always comes back to bite them on the arse”
Now I understand he might have an issue with her as I think she was against same sex marriage. But this man always strikes me as an arrogant twat and a nasty piece of work.

I tried to post the link but I’m such a technophobe! it’s on BBC news website

I wish I’d sued my bully for his slander/libel.

Pretty much singlehandedly stopped any chance of promotion for me and damaged my reputation forever.

All because I called him out on something he’d wrongly blamed me for.

I wish him no harm but would have taken every penny he had gladly and donated it to the local animal shelters.

The one thing courts really don't like is people who take the piss out of the legal system. If Jessen had any sense at all, he'd have offered a contrite apology at the outset.

Yeah what a numpty. If he'd even done something like this:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=oYOZ3IzRaf4
it wouldn't have ended so badly for him.

No one will ever top that apology power.

No-one.

😂

I dont get it. He couldn't have been the only one who repeated this if he read it on line. Why weren't all the other gossippy people sued. I suppose its because hes a well known celeb type person. Still good for her suing him when the rumours were untrue.

Did he read it or make it up himself? No idea.

It's probably because he is someone that has a big audience, and as a doc on the telly is probably trusted.

Or he started it himself which is more than possible. It didn't say in the report.

From memory I believe he retweeted someone else’s tweet with additional commentary about her being a hypocrite. The difference is the original was a small anonymous account and he was neither anonymous nor a small account so the original accusations got a lot more attention than they would otherwise have had.
I suspect other non anonymous accounts would have removed their retweet’s when contacted by a libel barrister.
The original rumours were being spread at a critical point in NI assembly negotiations and were almost certainly designed to undermine Arlene professionally. CJ appeared to wade in gleefully for a personal attack on her with no understanding of the politics which is really fucking ignorant as well as arrogant

Worth noting libel law is a bit different in Northern Ireland to England. (Arlene has a degree in law, I don’t know what area she practised in but she’s well placed to understand libel law better than him)

Hope the GMC go after him too

I wouldn't bank on it.

The GMC is terrified of seeming 'anti doctor' after the Bawa Garba debacle, and the pandemic hasn't helped: all you hear from them these days is about doctor wellbeing, supporting the profession, etc. Patient safety and public trust are nowhere to be seen.

Jessen might get a warning, but I doubt it. Their thresholds for action are ridiculously high. He'll play the MH card and it'll be case closed.

The Times thinks it will cost him about £450K

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/245465be-bf1b-11eb-a904-b6ed9daa84aa?shareToken=b71468725985713f349c16ef9d67481c

[quote Igneococcus]The Times thinks it will cost him about £450K

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/245465be-bf1b-11eb-a904-b6ed9daa84aa?shareToken=b71468725985713f349c16ef9d67481c[/quote]
Thanks for the link igneococcus. 125k damages, 300k at least of costs (including Arlene's and his own, I presume? Or is that just hers? )

Some solicitor reckons Christian could appeal as the damages are too high. Ha. Go for it Christian. Its not the damages that are the issue there, really.

@Oenanthe

Hope the GMC go after him too

I wouldn't bank on it.

The GMC is terrified of seeming 'anti doctor' after the Bawa Garba debacle, and the pandemic hasn't helped: all you hear from them these days is about doctor wellbeing, supporting the profession, etc. Patient safety and public trust are nowhere to be seen.

Jessen might get a warning, but I doubt it. Their thresholds for action are ridiculously high. He'll play the MH card and it'll be case closed.

Actually, mental health can be a fitness to practise issue if it interferes with a HPC's ability to carry out their duties. If Arlene were to now report him to the GMC for mental health issues so severe that for a whole year he was unable to open or respond to post, that would have to be investigated. If he can't respond to that, he might be unable to respond to patients etc. Also, dishonesty is always a striking off offence because it is considered that it speaks to character and can't be remediated. So if he were proved to be telling porkies about not knowing about the case, it would likely not end well.

Interesting comments! Thank you, everyone, for shedding more light on the situation.

Some solicitor reckons Christian could appeal as the damages are too high. Ha. Go for it Christian. Its not the damages that are the issue there, really.

Spend another £200k reducing damages by 50k (or presumably they could be increased?) sounds like a good strategy.

There's also bringing the profession into disrepute

@TeacupDrama

There's also bringing the profession into disrepute

That didn’t bother the gmc about Harrop, there’s been complaints about him for bringing the profession into disrepute for a long time that have been brushed aside. Jensen’s comments about 12 year old female brides should have been enough to at least warrant a warning and apology

Some solicitor reckons Christian could appeal as the damages are too high.

It's not just some solicitor - Mark Stephens is a renowned media lawyer so his view carries some weight: 'Stephens pointed out that the agreed cap on defamation awards in the UK was £350,000. The upper limit, he said, was supposed to be “reserved for the most serious libels, such as wrongly calling someone a paedophile or a murderer on the front page of a newspaper”.'

I have to admit that the judge laid it on a bit thick:

"To state that a woman married for 25 and a half years and a mother of three children, who is a committed Christian and who is recognised as such, and who has publicly made statements extolling the importance and sanctity of marriage, who also happens to be the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and a holder of the office of first minister of Northern Ireland, was an adulterer, a hypocrite and a homophobe is a most serious libel and is grossly defamatory."

So who knows, perhaps he will get it reduced on appeal. Also interesting that the judge awarded indemnity costs which, according to the article, "is rare in defamation cases and is done to penalise a party for conduct during the litigation."

I can understand why he did that - Jessen's behaviour, first ignoring all the letters about the case, then turning up late and mounting an utterly pathetic defence would have infuriated the judge.

Though NI libel laws are different from the UK's and compensation limits are apparently different and Mark Stephens seems to specialise in English law so I wonder if he's actually right?

NI libel laws are UK libel laws

Mark Stephen’s needs to catch himself on and get himself up to date on NI libel law first. And take on board Arlene is not a random woman people have barely heard of (just because he may have barely heard of her) but First Minister in a province where those sorts of allegations against senior women affect their reputation.

And I say this as someone who would never ever ever have voted for her or DUP.

But I’d be happy enough to see CJ appeal and lose more money

I’d love to see CJ appeal, more negative publicity for him. He’s a narcissist though & may well appeal.

I’m so glad to see smirky, woke men being called to account.

Some solicitor reckons Christian could appeal as the damages are too high. Ha. Go for it Christian. Its not the damages that are the issue there, really.

I would think it would be a Pyrrhic victory, because the extra costs involved would be much higher than anything that would be knocked off the awarded sum. Plus, when an unusually harsh punishment is awarded, either in civil or criminal court, the judge has to justify it and state his reasoning very clearly. I doubt that Mr Justice McAllinden just wrote "lol" at the bottom of his summing up and judgement.

I wonder if Jensen'll try to get crowdfunding from his umpteen followers to pay what looks as though it's going to be a massive bill?

Hardly the kind compassionate Mr Goody two Shoes he portrays on TV. I wonder if this will affect his career.

I'm so pleased that Arlene won!
That is a sentence I never expected to write!

I also like how Arlene and Mr Tweed have expanded her victory in the hope of making it a watershed moment in halting the online abuse of women.

God he really, really hates women and girls doesn't he? Wow.

With costs included this is going to cost him well over £350/400k.

That didn’t bother the gmc about Harrop, there’s been complaints about him for bringing the profession into disrepute for a long time that have been brushed aside.

The GMC are still investigating him.