Cost of claims against newspapers to be capped

Those with a grievance can seek arbitration and avoid going to court through Ipso’s new scheme

A COMPULSORY, low-cost arbitration scheme that avoids expensive court cases for people bringing claims against newspapers is being set up by the industry’s biggest regulator.

The scheme announced yesterday by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), is a compulsory version of a voluntary system already in place.

The scheme allows someone with a genuine claim against a newspaper who could have gone to court to instead seek arbitration.

Newspapers that choose to sign up to the new system cannot then refuse the request. In other words the scheme is not compulsory to join – but once signed up to, arbitration cannot be avoided. The Telegraph Media Group, which includes the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph and telegraph. co.uk, has agreed to join the compulsory scheme, which will go live by July 31. National newspapers which are members of Ipso have until Friday to decide whether to join up.

The voluntary scheme had allowed newspapers to opt out of arbitration on any given case. The arbitration system administered by Ipso will cost a claimant a maximum £100 in costs. The compulsory scheme – unlike the voluntary one – will offer a higher level of damages, of up to £60,000.

Once a claim is accepted by Ipso, a senior barrister is appointed as the arbitrator, and will make a preliminary ruling on “core issues in the dispute”.

Claims could be brought to settle such disputes as defamation actions and invasion of privacy. Currently, disputes that reach court typically take a long time to get there and are hugely expensive.

Lord Justice Leveson, who conducted an inquiry into the conduct of the British press in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, recommended that claims against newspapers should be resolved quickly and cheaply through arbitration.

The decision of the arbitrator is legally binding and claimants would not then be able to go to court if the ruling was not to their liking – unless they could demonstrate the arbitrator had abused the process or exceeded their authority.

Matt Tee, Ipso’s chief executive, said the compulsory scheme was being introduced in response to Lord Justice Leveson’s call for greater access to justice for ordinary claimants. “Lord Justice Leveson stressed the importance of having a low-cost means of people that had been wronged by a newspaper getting compensation, without the expense of court and legal fees,” he said.

“The new Ipso scheme does exactly that and the papers are not able to choose which cases they take.”

He added: “Once Ipso has accepted an arbitration claim, a senior barrister is appointed as the arbitrator.