What is an Offer to Make Amends Following a Defamation Claim in England?

As a business owner in England, you may find yourself in a dispute with another party where a defamatory statement has been made against you. Equally, you may accidentally publish defamatory material about another person or business. In either case, if you are in this situation, it is useful to know what an offer to make amends is and how it works. This article will explain what an offer to make amends is and some of the rules you must stick to when making an offer to make amends. 

What is an Offer to Make Amends?

An offer to make amends is where someone recognises that they have published defamatory material about another person or business. As a result, they wish to try and resolve the situation through certain steps. This will usually result in two things being done: 

• the person will issue an apology or correct the statement; and 
• they will pay an appropriate sum of money to the other person. 

What is Defamation?

An offer to make amends only arises if both parties agree that defamation has happened. You may therefore find it helpful to define what a defamation or a defamatory statement is.

Defamation refers to written or spoken statements about another person that is false. If the statement is written, the law calls it libel. If the statement is spoken, the law calls it slander. The exact definition of defamation, therefore, depends on if the defamatory statement is libel or slander. However, in general, there are three elements of defamation:

1. one person makes a statement about another person or business that is false;
2. the author of the statement must present the statement as fact rather than opinion; and
3. the statement substantially damages the person’s reputation or otherwise causes harm. 

Below are some examples of defamation, along with some counterexamples.

Making the Offer 

As mentioned, an offer to make amends will usually require a person to make a sufficient apology. If you have made a defamatory statement, it can help you settle with the aggrieved person without going to court. A suitable correction will also be made alongside the apology, which is intended to clear the person’s name.

1. The first step requires the aggrieved person to alert the person who made the statement that they consider it defamatory. This is called a concerns notice.
   

    

   
   
2. The person receiving the concerns notice has 28 days to make an offer of amends. The offer must:

• be in writing;
• declare itself as an offer to make amends; and
• indicate which statement the offer will amend.

Notably, the law does not require an offer to make amends to offer compensation and a public apology. However, in practice, any effective offer will include these.

3. The statement maker can withdraw the offer at any time. The aggrieved person is not required to accept the offer. 

On the whole, it is usually a good idea to seek professional legal advice if you are at risk of formal legal proceedings. This can be a costly and timely expense for your business, so it is good to have ideas for the options available to you from an early stage.

Key Takeaways

As a business in a dispute over a defamatory matter, it is a good idea to make sure you know how an offer to make amends will work. The amendment procedure will typically involve a suitable correction on the statement with defamatory imputations, alongside a reasonable offer to pay damages. This can be a good way of avoiding formal defamation proceedings, which can be lengthy and costly and ultimately disrupt your focus on managing the business.

If you need help with your business, our experienced corporate lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today at 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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