Is defamation case against Reham maintainable in UK?

LONDON: Imran Khan’s friend Zulfi Bukhari has instructed a West London law firm called Sweetman Burke and Sinker to send legal notice to Imran Khan’s former wife Reham Khan but it seems that there are a lot of legal complexities involved and it looks improbable that this case would be assessed for a success and land in front of a judge in the courts of England after the defamation letter was made public and those close to the claimants started to appear across media challenging the allegations which are part of the defamation claim and discredited Reham Khan and her publishing claims.

Reham Khan’s former husband Ijaz Rehman, former cricketer Wasim Akram, British Pakistani Anila Khawaja have jointly launched the claim against Reham Khan citing “defamatory and malicious” content in her upcoming autobiography.

The News spoke to some of the city’s best A-league defamation lawyers and have gathered the following key facts and scenarios in relation to the battle that has started between Reham Khan and PTI’s people who happen to be British nationals.

1. The firm Sweetman Burke and Sinker that has sent Reham Khan the Pre-Litigation letter is primarily a firm that looks at Family Law and Injury Claims. It doesn’t seem to hold specialist in the area of defamation, but that doesn’t mean this firm cannot run a successful defamation case. But a look at the profile of the firm suggests that it has no defamation case speciality. The biggest issue the law firm will face is the fact that its defamation pre-litigation letter that it wanted to remain private and confidential under all circumstances has been leaked by someone – and battle fought on media in the public eye and not in a court room at a later date.

2. William Bennett, the person they write as their Barrister for the case, is a senior specialist in Libel cases but he is going to be very expensive for the claimants if he takes up the file after signing an agreement with the law firm. It is estimated that single day cost can vary in between £7,500 to £ 10,000 depending on the preparation required for the day by him to represent the claimants.

3. Reham Khan can further apply for an extension to respond for another 14 days on this letter, this will give her a total of 28 days to respond to this pre-litigation letter. But Reham Khan doesn’t live on the address noted on the legal letter, she has not signed and received it yet.

4. The claimants have an option to apply for injunction for the book to be halted from publishing, although it is highly unlikely that an injunction will be granted as the court believes in free speech. Even if an injunction is granted, it will be for limited time phase and not for an indefinite time period. The chances of an injunction after the leakage of defamation letter are nearly impossible. An injunction order could cost not less than £20,000 and Zulfi Bukhari will have to make a decision whether its worth spending that kind of amount which will have effect for a limited time period.

5. The case is estimated to cost around £ 1.2 to £ 1.5 million to all the claimants, it could cost each claimant around 0.3 million to £ 0.4 million. Zulfi Bukhari has money and he has spent in the past for Imran Khan and the main funding has to come from his pockets.

6. There is a hurdle of jurisdiction involved too. If Reham Khan lives in Pakistan and has a Pakistani domicile at this moment, she may claim that the courts in the United Kingdom has no jurisdiction over her.

7. If the matter goes to the court, Reham Khan can ask people like Waseem Akram, Ijaz Rehman & Anila Khawaja to deposit monies to the court as this is not their jurisdiction. Anila Khawaja has been living in Pakistan for over ten years; Ijaz Rehman moved back to Pakistan few years back and Akram is not domiciled in the UK.

8. This notice is the first phase of Pre-Action protocol, after 28 days the legal team can advise to file a court Claim Form sending the defendant (Reham Khan) official court notice.

9. This case will pass through various processes including, claim filing, defence being filed, response to the defence, cost review and then finally the trial. Looking at the court schedules, the trial date could be anywhere in next 12 to 18 months.

10. It could cost Reham around £0.5 to 0.7 million to defend this case, if she is to hire a top legal firm. She has a property in the UK under her name but its worth less than £250,000 and there is mortgage on it too. Its understood that Reham Khan has already put her house in a trust for her three children.

11. The case can also be settled by Reham by offering each of the defendants a sum that would be considered a loss to their reputation but the claimants will have to spend a lot of money to make it to the court.

12. The maximum awarded after the recent changes in libel law in UK is £250,000. Reham could be advised to offer each claimant £50,000 to £ 80,000 and close this case early depending on legal advice and assessment and whether or not the case goes to the high court. If she makes an offer, the court will consider her offer as her trying to settle the case, and even in case the claimants win they will not receive high awards.