BCA v. Singh

British Chiropractic Association (BCA) v. Singh was an influential libel action in England and Wales, widely credited as a catalytic event in the libel reform campaign which saw all parties at the 2010 general election making manifesto commitments to libel reform and passing of the reformed law ‘Defamation Act 2013’ by the British Parliament in April 2013.

The case was brought by the British Chiropractic Association against science author and journalist Simon Singh. Occurring at a time when skeptics were beginning to make use of social media such as Twitter and social gatherings like The Amazing Meeting and Skeptics in the Pub, it brought together a large community of science-supporting geeks and resulted in unprecedented media coverage of chiropractic and the questionable claims made for it. At one point the so-called "quacklash" resulted in 500 formal complaints in 24 hours to the BCA and, before the case closed, a quarter of all members of the British Chiropractic Association were under formal investigation.

On 19 April 2008, The Guardian published Singh's column "Beware the Spinal Trap", an article that was critical of the practice of chiropractic and which resulted in Singh being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA). When the case was first brought against him, The Guardian supported him and funded his legal advice, as well as offering to pay the BCA's legal costs in an out-of-court settlement if Singh chose to settle.

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