Michael Owen takes legal action against Daily Express over false allegations of retirement
15 May 2009
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LEGAL NOTICE
Michael Owen
To: News Desks and Legal Departments
We act for Michael Owen.
We refer to an article which was published on the back page of the first edition of today’s Daily Express newspaper entitled “Finished at 29?” (the “Article”). The Article is grossly defamatory of our client, and amongst other things alleges that our client’s football career is over, that he is on the verge of retiring from professional football at the end of this season, and a lack of interest in Premier League Football Clubs has caused him to act in this way.
These allegations are untrue and are grossly defamatory of our client. You should be aware that the allegations were not put to our client prior to
publication, and had they been, the Daily Express would have been advised of the utter falsity of the claims. It is obvious that such sensational claims are highly damaging to our client, and in particular that such claims could give rise to substantial financial loss to our client by way of reducing the level of transfer fees he can command, and the loss of sponsorship deals.
As soon as our client became aware of the article, legal action was taken against the Daily Express and, as a result, the Daily Express has replaced the Article in later editions of its newspaper, and is now running an article entitled “Owen: I’m Not Finished” which now reports our client’s denial that he is retiring from football. Our client is pursuing legal action against the Daily Express in relation to these allegations.
This notice is written to put you on notice that any republication of these or similar allegations would give rise to a claim for defamation and we ask that you mark your database accordingly.
In addition to our client’s rights in defamation, any republication of these untrue allegations would also be in breach of Section 1 (Accuracy) of the PCC Code of Conduct.
Naturally, we trust that now that you are aware of the utter falsity of the allegation, you will comply with this Legal Notice. We must of course reserve all of our client’s rights in this regard.
For further information please contact the following lawyers with conduct: