Libel Tourism, Early Summer Edition

Threatened with a libel lawsuit over a review in Art Journal, its flagship publication, the College Art Association decided to settle rather than duke it out in British court. Libel law in the U.K. notoriously favors plaintiffs. Hence so-called libel tourism, in which plaintiffs file suit in Britain or other countries where, sans a First Amendment, the laws favor them. The costs can be punishingly high for defendants. Was the association’s decision to settle a wise move or, as the author of the review in question put it, “a cowardly act”?