A lawsuit brought by prominent landlord Fergus Wilson against vlogger Danny Hyde regarding comments on his YouTube page has been thrown out.
Wilson was suing Hyde for £10,000 under the Malicious Communications Act, but instead has been ordered to pay £3,000 costs.
Wilson was angry about a video criticising the landlord’s policy to ban non-white tenants “because of the curry smell they leave behind,” so brought a private prosecution against Hyde.
Hyde had sought to raise £10,000 through crowdfunding to defend himself but last week was offered pro-bono support by Giles Peaker of Anthony Gold and counsel Gerard Clarke of Blackstone Chambers.
The case was thrown out during a hearing at Yeovil County Court and the District Judge awarded £3,000 in pro-bono costs against Wilson, to be paid to a pro-bono legal charity.
Peaker said: “I’m delighted the claim was dismissed. It had no legal basis and was brought simply to threaten a young man who had said something that Fergus Wilson didn’t like.
“Danny Hyde was simply exercising his right to free expression. The award of pro-bono costs against Fergus Wilson will hopefully make clear that threatening people with baseless claims is no way to behave.”
Genuinely pleased.
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Great result all round. Well done everyone – except that charming landlord!
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Agreed – what an appalling landlord! Kudos to the lawyers for doing this pro bono!!
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