Month: May 2018
18.05.18
Unjustified threats of legal action can amount to harassment
The facts: On 17 May 2018, the Court of Appeal, in the case of Worthington & Anor v Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 1125, upheld an ex-tempore judgment of His Honour Judge Owen QC delivered on 10 June 2016, in which he found that the Defendant housing association, Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited, had unlawfully…
Read more16.05.18
Huffington Post settles Lachaux libel claim
Recently we reported that the Supreme Court had granted The Independent permission to appeal the decision in the Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1334. The case concerns the “serious harm” threshold for bringing a defamation claim and is unarguably the most important defamation decision since the inception of the Defamation Act 2013. Much has…
Read moreSolicitor struck off for unintentionally aiding criminal activity
Neil Bolton has been struck off the roll of solicitors in disciplinary proceedings that followed his conviction and nine months’ imprisonment for seven counts of failing to comply with Money Laundering Regulations and one count of failing to disclose information in the Regulated Sector. The criminal and disciplinary proceedings came as a result of an…
Read moreShoreham Airshow pilot pleads not guilty to gross negligence manslaughter charges
Andy Hill, the pilot of the Hawker Hunter which crashed on the A27 in West Sussex in August 2015, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one charge of endangering an aircraft. The pilot, 54, was performing a “loop-the-loop” stunt at the Shoreham Airshow on 22 August 2015 when…
Read moreSuspect Anonymity: is it actually feasible?
Former popstar and baby-boomer heart-throb Cliff Richard is suing the BBC for breach of privacy regarding its report that he had been accused of a sexual offence, and also its coverage in 2014 of the subsequent police raid on his home. The BBC coverage included use of a helicopter, and broadcasting the police search through…
Read more4.05.18
“Can’t pay? We’ll take it away” – Part 36 Offers, apologies, costs and a schoolboy error
In the recent case of Ali & Anor v Channel 5 Broadcast Ltd [2018] EWHC 840 (Ch), the Claimants successfully recovered £10,000 each in privacy damages following the broadcast of the television programme “Can’t pay? We’ll take it away”. The broadcast contained footage of the Claimants (a married couple) being evicted from their home, it…
Read moreDefamation take-down requests to Google
The Right to be Forgotten has been in the news again recently following the decision in NT1 & NT2 v Google LLC [2018] EWHC 799 (QB) (read our blog on that decision here), but Google will often voluntarily remove content from its search engine results on a variety of other grounds, including that the content…
Read moreLegal Disclaimer
Articles are intended as an introduction to the topic and do not constitute legal advice.