A north-east solicitor yesterday settled his libel claim against the owner of a website that blacklists solicitors and law firms.

Scott Eason, principal at Eason Law, had instructed libel lawyers Carter-Ruck to bring a claim for damages of between £50,000 and £100,000 and obtain a High Court injunction against Rick Kordowski, who runs solicitorsfromhell.co.uk.

Under the terms of a High Court order, Eason agreed to drop his claim for damages and costs if Kordowski removed allegations against Eason and Eason Law from the internet; undertook never again to publish allegations referring to Eason or his firm; and will write to Eason to apologise.

Carter-Ruck said in a statement yesterday: ‘Scott Eason has today settled his libel action against Rick Kordowski, owner of the website Solicitors from Hell. Mr Kordowski has removed the false and defamatory allegations from his website, agreed not to publish them again and apologised to Mr Eason.’

Eason said in a statement released by Carter-Ruck yesterday: ‘I am happy and relieved that this case has now settled. I felt very strongly about what was published about me and I could not allow the allegations to remain on the internet.

‘I initially wrote to Mr Kordowski myself asking for the allegations to be taken down, but he refused to do this without payment. As a matter of principle, I refused to pay Mr Kordowski any money and he left me with no option but to issue libel proceedings against him.

‘I am glad that Mr Kordowski has accepted the allegations are false, taken them down from his website and apologised to me.’

Kordowski said today that he will not delete complaints about ‘Premium Players’ unless the person who made the original post or a High Court judge asks him to do so. Complainants do not have to pay to post on the site, but if they feel strongly about their story, they can pay £25 to have the firm listed as a ‘Premium Player,’ as long as their posting contains information that is useful to the public, Kordowski said. If listed as a premium player, a solicitor or firm cannot pay to have the posting removed, he added.

Kordowski’s apology to Eason will read: ‘I would like to apologise for allowing defamatory allegations about you made by a third party to be posted on my website solicitorsfromhell.co.uk. I did not know at the time of publication that the allegations were false, but I now understand that they are. On that basis, they should never have been published.

‘I have taken the allegations down from my website and agreed not to republish anything about you or your firm again. I understand that, as I have no funds, you have kindly agreed to waive your entitlement to damages and costs.

‘I am sorry for the embarrassment and distress the allegations have caused you to suffer.’

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