The political activist Johanna Kaschke has been refused her right to appeal the High Court’s decision to strike out the case in May 2010.

In a separate libel case struck out in July 2010, Kaschke took action against bloggers John Gray and Alex Hilton over a post on Labour Home.

[Image: English Pen on Flickr]

• Background on the cases: on Index on Censorship or Jack of Kent’s blog

In an audio interview ahead of yesterday’s ruling, associate Robert Dougans from Bryan Cave LLP talked about the technicalities of the cases, and why the cases were struck out.

Dougans, who earlier this year successfully acted for author and journalist Simon Singh in BCA v Singh, said there was other material on the internet about Kaschke that would be “very very difficult to defend”.

“If Mr Gray and Mr Osler hadn’t written the balanced sensible articles they did, both Mr Justice Eady and Mr Justice Stadlen were very clear that it would have been a different story, these cases wouldn’t have been struck out and they would be looking towards an expensive trial and probably an expensive verdict.”

Dougans said that bloggers needed be careful about how a reasonable person would interpret their words.

“If you’re just reporting allegations – and it is possible to report allegations, but don’t adopt them as true.”

“Mr Osler could have written a far more sensational article, but had he done so he would have been a good few thousand pounds poorer.”

Listen to Dougans’ advice to bloggers, the Catch 22 of comment moderation, the chronology and costs of the Kaschke cases and his views on defamation and new media, as part of a special podcast discussing legal trouble for bloggers.

• Video of Dave Osler speaking outside the High Court in May 2010 on Don’t Get Fooled.