I'm being sued by a celebrity for slander/libel, what will happen?

[Heidi]

How much can I be sued for libel/slander? I have heard of people paying £12k, £25k, and much more

I recently wrote things on twitter about a low profile celebrity being a paedophile, and cheating on his wife. I have learnt me lesson so please don't give me a lecture.

Turns out he is going to sue me. I am 18, with no income, no money, no possessions (except things like clothes) and I'm not in education (was planning to do a levels soon)

Can someone please give me as much information as possible about what will happen to me.

[melissa]

If you can't pay then you will get jail time and loads of community service.

[john]

You can be sued for what ever damages the plaintiff can prove in court and in some cases a punitive amount.

[Squid]

He can sue you for millions if he wants to. Realistically, it would be the amount that you have impacted his income (and future income) by damaging his reputation. For instance if he lost a £50,000 recording contract and they fired him over your false accusations, he can sue you for that amount.

Since you have no money, he wins and you declare bankruptcy and all that really happens to you is that you have a terrible credit score for the next 7 yrs. His lawyer will advise him of this, and when he realizes he won't get any money from you and his lawyer will still charge him legal fees, he'll drop the case.

[Inda Cloud]

You'll be working for the celebrity for a long time.

[The Tank]

If you have posted defamatory remarks about the person on Twitter then that is Libel because the remarks are in permanent form; not Slander, which refers to transient remarks typically spoken not written. They are different offences.

You will be sued for Libel in a County Court and the damages will be what the judge deems as proportional to the loss of reputation incurred by the other person. It is impossible, and unwise, to try and guess the amount of damages by comparing your case to what you read about very high profile people getting.

So if your comments cause the minor celebrity to lose work due to the slur on his character then you would be expected to pay the amount of his loss of earnings PLUS all of the legal and court costs.

Therefore the actual damages themselves are completely impossible for anyone on this site to guess at. We would have to know what the person's normal income was and how much it had suffered as a direct result of your postings; and we would also have to try and second-guess the judge's opinion of how much the damage to his reputation has been. So if anyone here or anywhere else tries to give you a figure they are only guessing and probably have NOTHING to base it on.

If you lose then you will also have to pay the court costs and the legal team costs for the other person as well as your own. These costs can easily become £thousands if you contest the case in court. This is why most similar cases are actually settled "out of court" before it reaches the trial. Your solicitor will advise you about that.

As you obviously have no money of your own you would not be expected to pay the enormous sums that you read about in newspapers. The court would not allow damages to be awarded to someone who cannot pay - there would be no point. Therefore you can expect a reduced damages award but you may also be prosecuted under the Harassment Act for your conduct. That would get you a criminal record.

You must not attempt to deal with this without a legal adviser and you certainly must not rely on the internet for legal advice, especially this forum - if you are advised by an American you would certainly end up in big trouble because their legal system is not the same as ours..

If you cannot afford a solicitor then you must go to see your local Citizen's Advice Bureau As Soon As Possible. This is a reliable free advice service: you can get the address from your local library or Yellow Pages phone book.

[Lily B Talus]

He will not get anything from you as you have nothing, he could go to the C.P.S. regarding this and they may prosecute you...this is quite a serious offence, so you'd get sent to prison. Take legal advice and try to offer an apology to stop things going further.