The last known tourist defamation case under controversial laws in the UK, cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst has was hit with another defamation suit. The same US company that had originally been filed against him in 07 served his lawyers yesterday with his latest complaint regarding when Wilmshurst explained his defamation case on BBC Radio in 09. The required notification came months after the company filed its complaint with the United Kingdom courts and less than 36 hours before the case had been dropped.
Wilmshurst, a U.K. citizen, is one of a group of scientists and science journalists whose legal problems have served to point-libel reform rallying supporters. His troubles began with a 07 presentation he gave in the United States, during which he claimed that a cardiac device on which he had been the principal investigator was dangerous and that its manufacturer, Boston-based NMT Medical cover two studies that were unfavorable to the device. When a Canadian newspaper quoted him in a story, NMT has issued three separate applications defamation against Wilmshurst; This case is still pending.
In November 2010, NMT Medical has filed a fourth complaint against Wilmshurst with high U.K. court, this time on a 09 interview Wilmshurst a BBC Radio. In response to the question of an investigator about the lawsuit, Wilmshurst explained the origins of the case. In its application, NMT Medical said, repeating the details of the issue on national radio, he had defamed a wide audience. The court gave the U.K. company up to 16 hours March 25, 2011 to formally serve Wilmshurst.
In December, the court ruled that NMT now facing bankruptcy, must pay £ 0,000 in safety or the case would be dropped. Presumably, NMT released and his lawyer has served the complaint on March 24 at 10:21 p.m. (NMT's lawyer, Robert Barry, has not yet responded to a message of Science Insider-see update below -Dessous).
In a statement, lawyer Wilmshurst, Mark Lewis, said:
This is a clear abuse of a system to try to bully Dr Wilmshurst rather than trying to protect a reputation. If they were really concerned about their reputation, they have issued proceedings against Dr Wilmshurst immediately after the radio interview. ...
It is this kind of abuse of defamation proceedings which gives the right of the English libel a bad name. Dr. Wilmshurst is faced with having to waste more time to repel such an attempt shamelessly trying to scare him ... Rather than issue a new procedure maybe they could try to get their initial applications.
Many in the scientific community claim that U.K. fear of being prosecuted under permissive laws of the country discourages scientists from the struggle against the controversial issues. Last week, the U.K. lawmakers have proposed a "Defamation Bill" to strengthen the country's laws, putting the burden on the applicant to prove that statement significantly harmed his reputation.
* This article has been updated March 28:
In an email, Robert Barry, counsel for the prosecution, said science Insider that the delay between the year 09 and the interview filing "was the result of a long series of unexplained delays by the accused, aggravated by mistakes in fixing the dates and losing documents. "
the initial case is still pending, and Barry said Wilmshurst" refused to reply in detail "to" convincing evidence ... that NMT has not attempted to conceal data that Dr. Wilmshurst knew when he made his accusations. "
Barry said the choice to try the case in the UK was because the clinical trial in question "was conducted entirely in the UK by British doctors (including Peter Wilmshurst is) on patients in the UK, in hospitals in the UK and supervised by the medical regulatory authorities in the United Kingdom. ... NMT can be an American company, but it has a subsidiary in the United Kingdom, customers in the UK, has a reputation in the UK and major sponsors of clinical research in the UK. " The website that originally published the remarks Wilmshurst, despite being based in Canada, is "international in its scope and readership and the United Kingdom as one of its target markets," writes Barry.
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