Naomi Campbell wins libel action against newspaper

Naomi Campbell has won her legal action against The Telegraph newspaper.

The Telegraph alleged that Ms Campbell planned to organise an elephant polo tournament for her partner’s birthday celebrations in India and was therefore promoting animal cruelty.  However, there were never any such plans – Ms Campbell had neither organised nor requested the organisation of any elephant polo tournament.

Today, The Telegraph formally apologised in Court and agreed to pay a substantial sum in damages and legal costs.  Gideon Benaim, who led the team at Michael Simkins, said:

“This is a very positive outcome for our client.  The statement read in Court today provides Ms Campbell with proper vindication in respect of false allegations that were repeated on a global scale”.

Commenting on the outcome, Ms Campbell said:

“There were never plans to hold an elephant polo tournament, so the allegations should not have been published.  However, I am glad that the matter has been resolved and I accept the newspaper’s apology”.

A copy of the Statement In Open Court can be found here.

Ms Campbell’s principal team at Michael Simkins LLP were Gideon Benaim, Tom Iverson, Jessica Woodhead and Juliane Althoff.

Counsel for Ms Campbell was the excellent Justin Rushbrooke of the specialist media and entertainment chambers 5RB (http://www.5rb.com/member/fullprofile/justin_rushbrooke).