Woman targeted by transactivist wins damages for libel.

[yourhairiswinterfire]

Some good news. I think a few posters here may be familiar with Jean Hatchet on Twitter.

In 2017 she took part in sponsored bike rides to raise money for a domestic violence charity. Each bike ride represented a woman who has been murdered (she did 300 bike rides!).

She was accused by a transactivist of using the raised funds for something other than the charity (a Fair Play For Women advertisement raising awareness of the proposed changes to the GRA)

She took this to court, and has won £45,000 in damages, plus costs.

Judgement: www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2021/1709.html

Jean's Twitter thread: twitter.com/JeanHatchet/status/1409765574494896129

Really pleased to see this. Will hopefully make the people who love throwing malicious accusations and slurs at GC women think twice.

Congratulations Jean!

Hooray for Jean!

well done Jean.

Excellent news, well done Jean, you should never have had to go through this.

This is another brick out of the wall of the TRAs, until recently, untouchable status.

That's bloody marvellous!

I wish JKR would sue. I think she's probably wisely rising above it in order to avoid more much slinging but it would be delightful to see a whole lot of angry TRAs dragged to court to pay for their many and varied libels against her. Pity.

Well done, Jean!

Yes, they can 'step of our necks'.

As I've said before, if JKR did sue it would trigger a vast amount of social media abuse repeating the libels. She'd then have to leave so much of it unattended to that the libels would become part of how she is perceived on social media.

I think she'll be holding back until she sees something so far beyond the pale she has to act so long as she could find the right targets: social media users with a large number of followers who could realistically be expected to afford to pay the damages and costs.

JKR suing would also provoke a lot of "rich white lady using her money to silence trans people" commentary. She's right to be cautious.

Well done to Jean, she is right to make a stand. The judgement was interesting, the fact other ppl repeated a few months later helped jeans case because it suggested 'hidden springs' of the defamation. The judge was also quite good at understanding where Jean's reputation is forged - ie in certain activst circles and on twitter, so the fact thats where the damage was done was important.

I wonder what happens if the person can't pay. How will the costs be met?

I wish there was a quicker, more accessible way of getting redress for defamatory words, and preventing the defamation from rolling on. It's such a big deal to have to go through if you are being lied about, and can completely financially ruin the losing party which is a huge risk.

Really good news.

Instead of targeting the individual misogynists, maybe it should be focused on Twitter itself. For not deleting the posts quick enough, or at all.

A Joss Prior tweet was cited in the judgment when the extent of damages was decided.

Joss is strangely silent on this one, for once...

That’s great news for Jean- well done.

I didn’t know who Shanu Varma is, so I googled it and in the process found that Ciaran Goggins (mentioned in the transcript) has repeated the defamation and additionally doxxed Jean. So that’s lovely. And stupid. Apparently, because she’s a ‘t*rf’ and deserves it, the law doesn’t matter?

jKR is so smart is suspect she’s playing the long game and will eventually regain her reputation.

This Ciaran Goggins?

www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/15/ched-evans-friend-victim

Re JKR.. I am a lawyer, but not a defamation one, and from memory we had about half a lecture on defamation at law school.

I imagine the reason that JKR, and others, have not submitted any claims for libel (apart from the obvious not wanting the stress of the legal process) is that being called 'transphobic' is a very difficult thing to pin down legally. You would have to prove the statement is false, and given that there is no clear definition of transphobia and it's essentially an opinion it becomes impossible to prove it's a false statement. JKR has had all sorts thrown at her but much of it is abuse, not 'lies' that can easily be disproved.

The difference with these cases is that it's very clear that a false statement has been made... accusations of theft or an affair are very clear and can be disproven.

Ciaran Goggins is a real piece of work. IIRC, he's been trolling Jean for a long time because she was vocal about Ched Evans.

www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/15/ched-evans-friend-victim

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2913029/Ched-Evans-s-true-friend-worked-closely-campaign-try-clear-repeatedly-abused-rape-victim-posted-link-website-NAMED-her.html

Datun I agree, I haven't read the Online Harms Bill that is currently going through Parliament fully yet but I would have thought there should be something whereby SM sites are held partly liable for allowing the publication of those posts, in the same way that all other forms of media are.

Twitter are far too slow to act, if they act at all, and they should be held accountable for that the only way to do that would be to hit them financially.

off, not of.

Excellent news. Thanks for sharing @yourhairiswinterfire

🎉

@Horizons83

Re JKR.. I am a lawyer, but not a defamation one, and from memory we had about half a lecture on defamation at law school.

I imagine the reason that JKR, and others, have not submitted any claims for libel (apart from the obvious not wanting the stress of the legal process) is that being called 'transphobic' is a very difficult thing to pin down legally. You would have to prove the statement is false, and given that there is no clear definition of transphobia and it's essentially an opinion it becomes impossible to prove it's a false statement. JKR has had all sorts thrown at her but much of it is abuse, not 'lies' that can easily be disproved.

The difference with these cases is that it's very clear that a false statement has been made... accusations of theft or an affair are very clear and can be disproven.

That may be why she only went after the person who said she shouldn't be around children? Obviously something that is easily refutable.

On the other hand, surely all the death threats and rape threats could be tackled?

Fantastic news, go Jean!

@RedDogsBeg

Datun I agree, I haven't read the Online Harms Bill that is currently going through Parliament fully yet but I would have thought there should be something whereby SM sites are held partly liable for allowing the publication of those posts, in the same way that all other forms of media are.

Twitter are far too slow to act, if they act at all, and they should be held accountable for that the only way to do that would be to hit them financially.

Yes, they need to be held accountable. Rosa Freedman has published a threatening letter she received from a student, on Twitter, and they've shut her account until she removes it.

That's got to be unlawful.

Well done Jean 👏👏👏

Excellent

This targeting pure malicious misogyny

That's great news. Good for Jean.

About JK Rowling. We don't know of course whether she actually has got any libel actions ongoing. You'd be pretty foolish to defend a libel suit against JKR, because she has bottomless pockets.

It's also possible that so many people are posting libellous comments about her that she hasn't got the time/energy/inclination to pursue them all - and of course she doesn't need the money - so perhaps she decides to let them go until someone writes something so egregious that she has to challenge it, as with the case Datun mentioned.

There is another issue of course around the specific threats of violence, which are criminal in nature and ought to be a matter for the police. I don't know if she has reported them to the police or not. It bothers me a lot, having seen the assault on Chris Whitty at the weekend. There are violent people out there who would have no compunction about carrying out a physical attack on JKR if they had the opportunity. She probably ought to have a police guard. It makes me realise, once again, what a brave woman she is.