High Court throws out defamation claims against award-winning investigative media organisation
On 13th May 2026, Mrs Justice Steyn handed down a judgment throwing out two defamation claims issued by Italian businessman Claudio De Giovanni against award-winning media organisation Mill Media, its founder Joshi Herrmann, and freelance journalist Cormac Kehoe.
The claims concerned an investigative piece by Kehoe published in The Londoner under the headline “Claudio is Scamming.” De Giovanni brought a County Court claim against Kehoe personally, serving it at an old address and obtaining default judgment against him for £10,000. He also brought a duplicative High Court claim against all the Defendants for £250,000.
Striking out the County Court claim, the Judge ruled that it was “plainly an abuse of process” (at [25]). She also ruled that De Giovanni had not validly served the High Court claim, and that setting aside the claim was “properly attributable to [his] own continuing failure to serve the claim form” (at [43](vii)).
The Defendants had repeatedly raised concerns that De Giovanni was using legal proceedings as a means of exerting improper pressure against them to take down their reporting. The case was awarded runner up position in the 2026 European SLAPP Contest run by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe.
The Londoner has reported on the judgment here. Press Gazette has reported here.
Claire Overman, instructed by Ali Vaziri and Anne Mannion of Lewis Silkin LLP, acted for the Defendants.
