RTÉ reports:
Donald Trump’s data protection case against a British private investigations firm over a dossier which alleged ties between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia has been thrown out by London’s High Court.
Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, had sued Orbis Business Intelligence about claims in a dossier written by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who co-founded Orbis.
Judge Karen Steyn ruled that the former US president’s case could not continue, saying in a written ruling that “there are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial”.
Read more at RTÉ.
The Associated Press provides additional coverage as to why the judge dismissed the case:
Orbis said the lawsuit should be thrown out because the report was never meant to be made public and was published by BuzzFeed without the permission of Steele or Orbis. It also said the claim was filed too late.
The judge agreed, concluding Trump had “chosen to allow many years to elapse -– without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction -– since he was first made aware of the dossier” in January 2017.
“The claim for compensation and/or damages … is bound to fail,” Steyn said.
Case Information:
Trump -v- Orbis Business Intelligence Limited
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 173 (KB)
Case Number: KB-2022-004403
The full judgment can be found at https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Trump-v-Orbis-Judgment.pdf