Qualified privilege as a preliminary issue

MacIntyre v Phillips and others (CA TLR 30 August)

There is no rule of practice that courts should direct issues of qualified privilege to be heard in advance of the main trial of defamation. It might very well be that now the ground rules for the defence of newspaper qualified privilege seemed fairly well settled, a judge might generally decide it wise to direct a preliminary issue on qualified privilege in such a case, on the basis that an appeal was not particularly likely and a decision in favour of the defendants would avert a long trial on justification. But the judge must also bear in mind that the claimant had brought the case to vindicate his reputation and it might well be unfair to delay the ultimate trial while a preliminary issue was fought over.