ENGLAND & WALES Trends and Developments Contributed by: James Lynch, Sophie Green and Nick Connor, Maltin PR
In Pacini & Anor v Dow Jones & Company Incorpo- rated , His Honour Justice Parkes said: “I cannot see how [the claimants] can be summar- ily denied access to the court to make [their] case, employing a cause of action which is legitimately open to them… simply because in the past they have repeat- edly threatened to claim in defamation, or because the claim is heavily based (as it is) on considerations of harm to reputation, or because, had they brought the claim in defamation, it would have faced very difficult obstacles.” Alongside the legal approach, many litigants are uti- lising the services of communications professionals who specialise in litigation to try and manage nega- tive media coverage and encourage positive media narratives. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) remain under close scrutiny by the Solici- tors Regulatory Authority, politicians and the general public. Indeed, the watchdog issued another warning for solicitors at the end of May 2024, and has had no qualms about pursuing actions in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. These include a case where a solicitor is being prosecuted for “improper threat of litigation”, and another for allegedly overstating the strength of his client’s case in relation to contempt of court proceedings. Related to this, June 2025 updates to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2003 (ECCTA) grant additional powers to the court concerning SLAPPs in the context of economic crimes, as follows: • Section 194 introduces the power for courts to dismiss SLAPP claims early (before trial) via a new procedure in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR); • Section 195 provides a statutory definition of a SLAPP, which helps to clarify when the early dis- missal power can be used; and • the Civil Procedure Rule Committee has made amendments to CPR 3.4 (power to strike out a case) and CPR 44.2 (court’s discretion as to costs) in order to implement the anti-SLAPP provisions within Sections 194 and 195 of ECCTA.
However, these provisions only relate to claims con- cerning allegations of economic crimes, meaning that general defamation claims and public interest journal- ism will not be caught and will not benefit from the faster dismissal process. Where clients are concerned about reporting or social media/artificial intelligence output, whether related to ongoing litigation or other- wise, both lawyers and communications profession- als should be consulted for a holistic and joined-up approach. Group Action Cases Group litigation has continued to be a dynamic and evolving area throughout 2025. Jurisprudential shap- ing court judgments, developments in litigation fund- ing and proposed reforms to class actions continue to shape the landscape of group claims in England and Wales going forward. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) remains cen- tral to group proceedings, with a total value of active claims exceeding GBP160 billion at the start of 2025. However, the volume of claims brought to the CAT has declined significantly in 2025, with only three collec- tive proceeding cases brought in the first nine months of 2025, compared with 11 for all of 2024. This reflects the wider uncertainty following the Supreme Court’s ruling in PACCAR in 2023 leading to a decline in appetite for new competition claims, most if not all of which are third-party funded. The PACCAR decision curtailed the ability of litigation funders to claim a percentage of damages by ren- dering most such agreements unenforceable. Despite calls for legislation to clarify the position, with 19 law firms signing a letter to the Justice Secretary, David Lammy, in October 2025 urging him to legislate to overturn PACCAR, the position of funders remains on the government’s “to-do” list after the Civil Justice Council’s report into litigation funding. Similarly impactful have been concerns that success- ful claims have resulted in lower returns for funders than initially estimated. May 2025 saw the CAT approve a proposed settlement in Walter Merricks CBE’s claim against Mastercard, brought in 2016 and representing a class consisting of around 44 million people. While a claim value of between GBP10 billion
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