Lord Justice Warby, in a unanimous decision, rules

“In my judgment, there was no legally admissible evidential basis for the judge’s inference that the TED Talk and Tweet did not cause serious harm because most of those to whom they were published already believed in the truth of the allegation which they contained…  Nonetheless, so far as the TED Talk is concerned, I have concluded that the judge’s errors do fatally undermine her conclusion. In my judgment, if those errors are put to one side it was an inevitable inference from the evidence before the judge that publication of the TED Talk after 29 April 2020 caused serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.”

Warby’s ruling in favour of Banks says that this kind of appeal will “rarely” be disturbed in the absence of an “error of principle potentially critical to the outcome”. A high bar, nonetheless the Appeal Court rules Judge Steyn was in error. Judge Steyn’s hopes for promotion taking a knock there…

Banks also won damages to be assessed in respect of publication of the TED Talk.

Full judgement Banks v Cadwalladr 2023 EWCA Civ 219.