Defamation case; appeal from the Supreme Court. Arbor, sole proprietor of Arbor Catering, sued Matteos, who had hired his food catering services for a wedding. Matteos, days after the wedding, published in a local newspaper column that Arbor Catering's staff "cannot cook the simplest of meals, and that the food we received at the wedding left many of us sick in bed". Defamation had been regulated by common law, inherited from the United States, and therefore, the United Kingdom, up until this case, and therewith the valid defense against defamation was simply that the allegation or remark must be truthful. Matteos used this common law defense and stated that, in fact, the wedding goers were "sick in bed" after the wedding. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arbor citing that Matteos did n